LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



^ "Ul Or, 



THE HOLY LAND 



IN THE LIGHT OF 

RECENT SURVEYS AND EXPLORATIONS 

A Hand Book 

For Sunday-School Teachers and Bible Students 

EDITED BY 

H. B. WATERMAN, D. D., 

Instructor at Chautauqua, N. Y., and Western Secretary for the 
London Palestine Exploration Fund. 



DESIGNED TO ACCOMPANY 



RASSWEILER'S PALESTINE PORTFOLIO. 



PUBLISHED BY 

C. F. RASSWEILER & CO., 

CHICAGO, ILL. 
1895. 



\ 



COPYRIGHT 1895, 

BY 

C. F. RASSWEILER & CO. 



1 



TO 

BISHOP JOHN H. VINCENT, L. L. D. 
MY FIRST GUIDE IN 
BIBLE GEOGRAPHY. 



List of Chapters. 



PAGE. 

I. Situation and Boundaries 1 1 

II. Extent, Population and Religions 15 

III. Some Magnificent Prospects 27 

IV. The Sea Coast 39 

V. The Coasts of Tyre and Sidon 47 

VI. The Maritime Plain 63 

VII. The Shephelah 81 

VIII. The Central Range . 1 1 1 

IX. Judaea 121 

X. Samaria 145 

XL Galilee 163 

XII. The Jordan Valley 179 

XIII. Eastern Palestine 197 

XIV. Some Nesting-places of History 203 

XV. Campaigns of Joshua 211 

XVI. The Tribal Divisions 221 

XVII. Jerusalem 237 

XVIII. The Journeys of Jesus 273 

XIX. The Plants of the Bible 335 

XX. The Animals of the Bible 373 

5 



List of Illustrations. 

PAGE. 

Robinson's Arch 9 

Grotto of Jeremiah 10 

Going Through Needle's Bye 14 

A Wine- press 26 

Mount Carmel Convent 35 

Pieces of Silver . . . . 38 

Ladder of Tyre 49 

Tomb of Hiram . 52 

A Street in Damascus 62 

Church of Saint George at Lydda 66 

Dagon, the Fish god 69 

Sower 80 

The Plain of Sharon from Ramleh 83 

Summit of Mount of Olives 105 

The Lachish Tablet, Front 106 

The Lachish Tablet, Back 107 

An Arab Tent no 

The Gate of Judgment, Jerusalem - .... 119 

The Golden Candlestick 120 

Loading the Donkey 144 

Baal, the Sun-god , . . . . 147 

Pentateuch 156 

Samaria 162 

Water-carrier from Nazareth 177 

Pools of Solomon 178 

Well of Harod 181 

The Plain of Genesaret 187 

A Modern Martha 202 

Tower of David, Jerusalem 210 

Modern Jericho 213 

Tomb of Joseph 220 

Jew with Phylacterv .... 236 

Herod's Temple, Jerusalem 241 

Temple Inscription of Warning to Gentiles 262 

Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre 269 

Bread-making 271 

The Village of Siloam 272 

Large Stones in Wall at Baalbec 402 

Stone in Baalbec Quarry 402 

6 



PREFACE. 



The modern traveler in Palestine is confronted at 
every step by historic visions of transcendant interest, 
accompanied by echoes which call up the past din of 
battle, the praises of worshiping hosts, as well as 
delightful discourses of domestic simplicity and of 
divine instruction. Who does not desire to have his 
faith strengthened and his thoughts solemnized by a 
view of those scenes where the most sacred events 
have transpired ? To wander and meditate where 
patriarchs lived and died, where prophets received 
their commissions, where apostles heard words of life 
and peace from the lips of their incarnate God, has 
been the life-long aspiration of many a Christian 
heart. Every Bible student needs some idea of the Holy 
Land, its shape and situation; its plains, mountains 
and passes; its fauna and flora; its colors, lights and 
shades. He needs to breathe an oriental atmosphere, 
to discern the lay of the land, to understand why his- 
tory took certain lines, and why prophecy was expressed 
in certain styles. 

The following chapters are the result of a cherished 
plan formed during two visits to Palestine; first in 
1867, before the great changes made by foreign settle- 
ments, and recently in 1892, after the whole country 
had been surveyed and mapped. The scientific explo- 



8 



PREFACE. 



ration of the Holy Land has been achieved within the 
last twenty years. America contributed the pioneer 
work of Robinson and Lynch half a century ago; but 
to Great Britain belongs, through the labors of the 
Palestine Exploration Fund Society, the splendid 
results of an accurate survey of Palestine, a geologic 
survey, the excavations at Jerusalem and at Tel-el- 
Hesy, numerous identifications of sacred sites, and a 
most complete summary of natural history and meteo- 
rology. Nor must we forget to acknowledge the recent 
investigations of our own Dr. Selah Merrill and H. C. 
Trumbull. 

But while the survey of the surface of the country 
has been completed, there is still a great future for the 
work of excavation. We have run into the ground 
most of the questions. It only remains to dig them 
up Mr. F. J. Bliss, an American in the employ of 
the English Society, has just commenced digging on 
Mount Zion with a view of ascertaining the direction 
of the ancient first wall of the city. 

I have invoked the aid of the Higher Criticism, in 
so far as its results are well settled, for I believe that 
archaeology and literary criticism may be made mutu- 
ally helpful. 

The relief map of Palestine I consider the finest 
ever published. It is a correct and impressive repro- 
duction of the exact shape and physical varieties of the 
land. The other maps and charts have been especially 
prepared by that eminent cartographer, Mr. Charles E. 
Petford, with great care and in excellent good taste. 



PREFACE. 



9 



The natural history chart has been prepared from the 
results of the exhaustive researches of Canon Tristram. 
All the maps are made to conform as nearly as possible 
to the English Ordnance Survey ; but many supposed 
identifications of sacred sites have been omitted as not 
proven. 

My chief sources of information have been the pub- 
lications of the London Palestine Exploration Fund, 
Smith's Bible Dictionary and Smith's Geography. In 
chapter xviii I have followed the order of events given 
in Luke. I have omitted quotation marks, even in the 
case of Bible references, as these will be readily recog- 
nized. Much of the book will be familiar to those 
who have attended my lectures upon the Model of 
Palestine at Chautauqua, N. Y. 

Henry B. Waterman. 

3436 Rhodes Ave., Chicago, Jan. r, 1895. 




ROBINSON'S ARC 



THE HOLY LAND 



CHAPTER I. 

SITUATION AND BOUNDARIES. 

I. The nations of the earth were created to show 
the glory of God in the redemption of humanity. As 
a theater on which to work out His plan of atonement, 
He selected the little land of Palestine, and placed 
there his chosen people. This was the scene of their 
discipline, the home of the world's Redeemer, the 
source of His most 7 striking illustrations, the theater 
of his beneficent and instructive miracles and the 
altar of His sacrifice and glorification. Here lived 
His first followers, and here was visited upon city and 
country the prophesied punishment for His rejection. 
In no other land have so important events transpired ; 
no other land preserves so well its identity through 
the centuries ; no where else have such buried treas- 
ures of archaeology been brought to light. A survey 
of Palestine cannot fail to delight any one who is 
interested in the human race. 
central 2 - As the incarnation of Christ 

location. marks a central epoch of time, so 
the position of Palestine was made central among the 
nations, so that from it the light might shine to the 

ii 



12 



THE HOLY LAND. 



ends of the earth. Lying right in the middle of the 
three parts of the Old World, it may be said to 
belong to all three. It lay on the highway of the 
nations (Matt. 4:15-16). By the time of Abra- 
ham, great nations with vast armies had come into 
existence, and, not content with possessing their own 
lands, they sought to conquer and to enslave other 
peoples. The possession of the two great valleys of 
the Euphrates and the Nile was the ambition of con- 
querors during the whole period of the Old Testament 
history, as it is to this day the cause of jealousy and 
of strife among the nations of Europe. But not only 
did armies march for century after century between 
the Nile and the Euphrates, the caravans of com- 
merce also thronged the roads in 

BETWEEN ° 

Egypt and times of peace. From the oasis of 
Assyria. Damascus they either journeyed 
southward on the eastern boundary of Palestine, or 
they crossed Palestine in the north, and went down 
to Egypt by the coast line. They must go the one 
way or the other to avoid the mountains which occupy 
the center of Palestine. These mountains thus 
became a fortress commanding the roads between the 
much-coveted lands of Babylonia and Egypt. Thus 
this little land held a position of the highest influence 
in the world's history, next to Egypt and Assyria. 
Living thus between Asia and Africa, between the 
Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, the Semites 
have been the great middlemen of the world, first in 
commerce and religion, if not also in war. 



SITUATION AND BOUNDARIES. 



13 



3. Palestine, which is really Philistina by name, 
was first the name of only a part of the coast, and 
thence the name spread inland to the desert. 

The Arabs call the country Esh- 
Sham, or The Left, for it is really the 
northwestern end of the great Arabian Peninsula, of 
which they call the southern side El Yemen, or The 
Right. The much older and native name Canaan is 
of doubtful origin, perhaps racial, but more probably 
geographical, and meaning "sunken" or low land. 
It seems to have at first belonged to the Phoenician 
coast, as distinguished from the hills above. But 
thence it extended to other lowlands — Sharon, the 
Jordan valley, — and so over the whole country, moun- 
tain as well as plain. The other names applied to 
the land need little explanation. The Land of Israel 
(1 Sam. 13, 19): of course this must not be con- 
founded with the same appellation as applied to the 
northern kingdom only (2 Chron. 30, 25). In Hosea 
9, 3, it is the Land of Jehovah ; in Zech. 2, 12, the 
Holy Land; in Dan. 11, 41, the Glorious Land. 
Occasionally it appears to be mentioned simply as the 
Land (Ruth 1, 1, Luke 4, 25). In Heb. 11, 9, we 
find it called the Land of Promise. 

4. Palestine was especially adapted to be the cradle 
of God's chosen people, for Israel was to be separated 

secluded from all the nations of the earth ; 
location. here must the germ of salvation be 
nurtured and matured. It was almost as secluded as 
an island. On the north it is bounded by the almost 



14 



THE HOLY LAND. 



insurmountable barrier of Lebanon. On the east and 
on the south is the inhospitable desert, while on the 
west is the great sea, without a harbor, for the rocks 
of Joppa have been the scene of many a shipwreck. 
Of the land, as of the people, the comparison may be 
made to a vineyard well fenced (Is. 5, 1-2). The sur- 
face of this vineyard of the Lord is so broken up by 
mountain range and valley that it has never all been 
brought under one native government ; yet its well- 
defined boundaries — the sea on the west, Mount Leba- 
non on the north, and the desert to the east and 
south — give it a certain unity, and separate it from the 
rest of the world. 




NEEDLE'S EYE. 



CHAPTER II. 

EXTENT, POPULATION AND RELIGIONS. 

5. Palestine maybe roughly described as a trun- 
cated triangle, of which the eastern side is formed by 
the Jordan, the western by the Mediterranean. The base 
is formed by a line joining the southeast corner of the 
Mediterranean and the south end of the Dead Sea. 
shape and Dan lies at the north in the Jordan 

area. valley, Beersheba, about the center 

of the base line; hence the proverbial phrase, "From 
Dan to Beersheba." The distance between Dan and 
Beersheba is just 144 miles; the breadth is about 90 
miles at the line of Beersheba; at a line drawn west- 
wards from the north end of the Dead Sea and passing 
through Jerusalem, it is 55 miles; at the south end of 
the Sea of Galilee it is 40 miles; and at the extreme 
north it is only 25 miles. The whole area is 6,000 
square miles. 

Parallel to the coast and all the way from Mount 
Taurus to the Red Sea there run two great mountain 
ranges, with an extraordinary valley between them. 
These ranges shut out the desert ninety miles from 
the Mediterranean, and by help of the sea charge the 
whole climate with moisture. These 
are Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. Be- 
sides the many streams which spring full-born from 
their roots and lavish water on their immediate 

15 



THE HOLY LAND. 



neighborhood, four great rivers pass across the length 
and breadth of Syria. The Orontes flows north, creat- 
ing Antioch; the Abana flows east, creating Damascus; 
the Litany rushes west in a bed too deep and narrow 
for any work save that of intersecting the land; and 
the Jordan flows south, forming three lakes, and 
otherwise intensifying the division between the two 
ranges. Of these rivers only the Orontes and Litany 
reach the sea; the Jordan comes to an end in the 
Dead Sea, and the Abana dies out in combat with the 
desert. 

The part of Syria with which we have to do is all 
south of the summits of the Lebanons. The gorge 
of the Litany is a natural limit on the north, as is 
also the Abana. The south of the Lebanon range, 
broken up somewhat at the plain of Esdraelon, runs 
through the whole of western Palestine, forming the 
mountains of Galilee, Ephraim and Judah, as far as 
Beersheba, where it falls away by easy steps to the 
desert level, suddenly to rise into the hights of Sinai, 
250 miles beyond Beersheba. The eastern branch, 
Anti-Lebanon, better known as Hermon, runs south, 
as the hills of Bashan and Gilead and Moab, to Mount 
Hor, in Edom, which is just 250 miles from Dan. 

6. The tribes of the Orient have been constantly 
beating upon Palestine and almost as constantly break- 
ing into her. Some flowed in from 

POPULATION. ° 1111 1 r . u 

the neighborhood only for the sum- 
mer, and ebbed again with autumn, like the Midian- 
ites in Gideon's day. The permanent settlers, however, 



EXTENT, POPULATION AND RELIGIONS 1 7 



came up from Arabia, or from the far south, like the 
children of Israel. Whenever history lights up her 
borders we see these two processes at work ; when 
Israel crosses the Jordan ; when the Midianites follow 
and oppress her ; when, the Jews being in exile, the Idu- 
means come up on their places ; when the Decapolis 
is formed as a Greek league to keep the Arabs out ; 
when the Romans, with their wonderful policy, enroll 
some of the immigrants as citizens to hold the others 
in check ; especially at the Moslem invasion, and also 
during the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem. All these, 
ancient and modern, have been members of the same 
Semitic race. Some of them have carried Palestine by 
sudden war ; others have ranged for a long time up and 
down the border, or settled peacefully on the more 
neglected parts of the land, till gradually they were 
weaned from their wandering habits, and drawn in 
among the agricultural population. These little tribes 
which swarmed out of Arabia, fitted into the little 
shelves and corners of the land, so that Palestine was 
tribal both by her form and by the character of her 
population. 

7. Of her earliest inhabitants, we have learned 

very much recently by the deciphering of ancient docu- 
ments and inscriptions. These recent 
inhabit- discoveries confirm in a remarkable 
ants. degree the statement of Gen. 10 as 

to the distribution of the nations after the flood. 

Overcrowding of the population led to emigration. 

Men pressed westward till they reached the shores of 



i8 



THE HOLY LAND. 



the sea ; and then they felt their way southward till 
they found the great river of Egypt, and the rich val- 
ley of which it is the life. In the earliest times scat- 
tered tribes must have found homes in the valleys and 
hills of Palestine. The Avim are mentioned in Josh. 
13 : 3. Singularly they seem to have done exactly 
what the tribe of Dan did afterwards, when it sent part 
of its population from the southwest to the far north- 
east of the land. Very frequent mention is made of 
a primitive race of giants, RephaimXhey are called. To 
them Bashan especially belonged. Their capital was 
Ashteroth Karnaim, the two-horned Ashteroth, a name 
which reveals their religion. The Anakim dwelt in 
the south ; here Arba built Kirjath Arba, afterwards 
known as Hebron. Most probably the change of 
name marks the proceeding of a conqueror. If so, 
we may conjecture that the conquerors were those 
who, seven years afterwards, built Zoan in Egypt 
(Num. 13 , 22). From Egyptian history we know 
that the invaders known as Hyksos came from Canaan 
and Arabia and established themselves at Zoan or 
Tanis. Most probably the same invasion from the 
east brought the Phoenicians to Tyre and Sidon. The 
PJiilistines probably came into this land at a later 
time. The power of Egypt was firmly established in 
Philistia at the time of, and long prior to, the exodus. 

Chaldean records tell of the invasion of Palestine 
by Sargon I. of Accad, and by his son. Sargon left 
his image carved on the shores of the Mediterranean 
just north of Beyrouth. Two similar invasions 



EXTENT, POPULATION AND RELIGIONS. ig 



occurred long after in Abraham's time (Gen. 14), at 
intervals of fourteen years ; and the father of Arioch, 
who figures in that story, is called, on the cuneiform 
monuments, the Father of Palestine, implying his 
lordship over the land. 

8. Seven nations of Canaan are named in Gen. 10, 
15-18. Their names seem to be rather descriptive of 
their habits than of their origin or appearance, and 

the seven could only become distinctive after 
nations. some generations. The Amorites, 
as their name implies, were the mountaineers (Num. 
'13, 29). On the Egyptian monuments they are called 
Amaru. Mamre, from whom the place of Abraham's 
dwelling was named, was an Amorite, and his brother 
Eschol gave his name to the surrounding valley (Gen. 
14, 13). They afterwards conquered and possessed, 
under Sihon and Og, the northern part of Moab and 
Mount Gilead, not long before the Israelitish conquest 
(Num. 21, 26). As the five confederate kings of Jeru- 
salem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon, are also 
called Amorites (Josh. 10, 5), it is obvious that the 
word is used in a pretty wide application. Perizzites 
were dwellers in the plains, perhaps the peasantry of 
the times. The Hivite lived in villages and towns ; 
their cities were ruled by elders, and they did not 
appear to have had kings. The Jebusite is best known 
from having held Jerusalem for so long a time, perhaps 
with a very small tribe. 

9. The great nation of the Hittites, or children of 
Heth, deserves a more extended notice. It was a 



20 



THE HOLY LAND. 



mighty empire when God promised 

THE HITTITES. r 

to give its land to the seed of Abra- 
ham (Gen. 15, 21). One capital was in Coele Syria, 
Kadesh on the Orontes, and another at Carchemish on 
the Euphrates (Josh. 1.4). As far south as Hebron 
they had possession in Abraham's time (Gen. 23) under 
Ephron. Their name has been traced in the " Horns 
of Hattin " west of the Sea of Galilee. They came 
from the north, from Asia Minor. In appearance they 
are like Caucassians, and they have " pigtails" like 
the Chinese. About the time Moses was born, Thoth- 
mes III. of Egypt invaded Palestine and broke the 
power of the Hittites at Megiddo, attacking Kadesh, 
and apparently making good his hold on the shores of 
Palestine as far north as the Lebanon. Raamses II. , 
the Pharaoh of the oppression, captured Kadesh, and 
his exploits are celebrated in a poem, and depicted on 
the walls at Thebes. The pictures exhibit Kadesh as 
a strong fortress surrounded by water. Captain Con- 
dor has identified the site as the great mound of Tell 
Neby Mendeh on the Orontes — a mound 50 to 100 feet 
high and 400 yards long. On the Egyptian monument 
Raamses II. is said to have broken the back of the Hit- 
tites for ever and ever. But he had to make a treaty 
with them, which is preserved. The treaty was 
cemented by the marriage of Raamses to a daughter 
conflicts °^ *he Hittite king. The Hittites 
with bgypt. were a people of some considerable 
culture. Kirjath Sepher (the book-town) was one of 
their cities in Southern Palestine, and many of their 



EXTENT, POPULATION AND RELIGIONS. 21 



engraved tablets have been discovered, though not yet 
deciphered. The presence of Abimelech with David 
while a fugitive (i Sam. 26, 6), and of Uriah the Hittite 
among his worthies, as well as of a Hittite princess in 
Solomon's harem, proves that they lived afterwards 
on terms of friendliness with the Israelites. Before 
the Israelites came into Canaan to take possession, 
both the Hittite power and the Egyptian were much 
enfeebled by long conflicts. While they were thus 
engaged in their fiercest wars, and Palestine was a con- 
tinual battle-field, the young nation of Israel was prac- 
tically sheltered under the strong wing of Egypt, till 
the time when those who would have imperilled its life 
were powerless, and then God "called his son out of 
Egypt," and led him about, and brought him to pos- 
sess the inheritance of these divided and broken peo- 
ples. 

10. The land of the Amalekites lay outside of 
Palestine proper. This vigorous race, however, sur- 
vived to the time of Hezekiah, notwithstanding what 
it suffered from the hands of Saul and David (1 Chron. 
4, 39-43). The Kenites seem to have been originally 
a separate guild, and not a distinct race. They were 
the blacksmiths of their day. Their existence as a 
separate guild explains 1 Sam. 13, 19-22, and their 
trade the convenient hammer of Judg. 4, 21. 
nature- 1 T - ^ * s n °t possible to judge rightly 

worship. Q f influence of all those nations 
on Israel without some knowledge of their religion. 
The ancient names of cities, mountains, valleys and 



22 



THE HOLY LAND. 



wells are suggestive of the nature-worship which 
prevailed. Generally speaking the worship of all 
those primitive nations, from the Egyptians to the 
Hittites, was substantially the same; and in this there 
was a bond of union among them in resisting not only 
the invasion of a new people, but of a new and pure 
religion. Their religion rapidly degenerated, for it 
required no morality, and did not even recognize it. 
Baal was their god — called also " El." He had many 
local suffixes to his name, as Baal-Hermon, Baal-Gad, 
etc. He was called also Melech or Moloch, meaning 
King ; also Adoni or Lord. Over the whole land the 
remains of primitive idolatry are found in rude obe- 
lisks or stones, such stones as are found all over the 
world. Israel's monotheism became indisputable in 
the centuries from the eighth to the sixth B. C., dur- 
ing the period of the great Assyrian 

JUDAISM . . 

triumph- invasion. The tribal gods of Syria 
went down before the invader, but 
Israel rose to grasp a faith in a sovereign Providence. 
He was Israel's own tribal deity. She was taunted to 
prove that God could save her more than the gods of 
the Philistines had saved them (Isaiah 10, 8— 1 1). 
Yet, both on the eve of her fall, and in her deepest 
abasement, Israel affirmed that Jehovah reigned, that 
He was Lord of the hosts of heaven and earth, and that 
Assyria was only a tool in His hand. Why did Israel 
alone arise to this faith ? Why did no other of the 
gods of the Syrian clans, Baals and Molochs, take 
advantage of the opportunity ? The answer to these 



EXTENT, POPULATION AND RELIGIONS. 23 



questions lies in the fact that Israel alone saw Jehovah 
exalted in righteousness. This had been their con- 
ception of Jehovah from the earliest times. In their 
national history, Jehovah is the cause of Israel's being, 
of the union of their tribes, of their coming to Pales- 
tine, of their instinct to keep separate from other peo- 
ples, even when they do not seem to 

ETHICAI,. f . , 

have been conscious of a reason 
why. From the very first this was an influence of 
righteousness, ethical. That which all along made 
Israel distinct from other tribes, and endowed her 
with her high morality, was her knowledge of Jehovah, 
and her constant intercourse with Him. This is what 
Revelation bestowed. By keeping the command- 
ments, and cherishing high hopes, Israel held herself 
distinct and pure. And, therefore, though she felt the 
land slipping from under her, though her political 
fortunes were at a low ebb, she still kept alive the 
divinest elements of her religion, the gifts of a tender 
conscience, and of the hope of a new redemption 
under the promised Messiah. 

12. He came in Jesus of Nazareth. He came 
when the scepter had departed. He was born into 

the Roman Empire. He grew up 

THE MESSIAH. r & \ 

within fifteen miles 01 the great port 
by which Rome poured her soldiers and officials upon 
His land. His youth saw Herod's embellishment of 
Palestine with Greek architecture. Jesus felt the 
influence of the forces which conspired to build upon 
Syria so rich a monument of Pagan civilization. 



24 



THE HOLY LAND. 



When He had been endowed by the Spirit with the 
full consciousness of what he could be, He was tempted, 
we are told, to employ the marvelous resources of 
Greece and Rome. ' ' The devil taketh Him up into an 
exceeding high mountain and showeth Him all the 
kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them." In 
that day such a vision was nowhere in the world so 
possible as in Palestine. But He felt it come to Him 
with a condition of crime as a mortgage upon it. ' 'All 
these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and 
worship me." And He replied from His Bible with a 
confession of allegiance to the God of Israel: 4 'Get 
thee behind me, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt 
worship Jehovah, thy God, and Him only shalt thou 
serve." 

Within the nation also He distinguished between 
the true and the false Israel. He insisted that, 
especially of late, Judaism had gone astray, laying 
too much emphasis on the letter of the law, nay, 
adding intolerably to this, and wrongly, foolishly, 
desiring the external kingdom. He 

HIS TEACHING. . . ° . _ - 

insisted on the spiritual as against 
the external, on the moral as against the ceremonial, 
on grace as above law. So the religious authorities 
were moved against Him. 

But their chief cause of offense, and it has ever 
since been the stumbling block of many who count 
His ethical teaching supreme, was the claim he made 
for himself. He represented himself not only as 
the Messiah, but also as Deity. He claimed to be the 



EXTENT, POPULATION AND RELIGIONS. 25 



inspiration of men for all time to come. A little bit 
of Syria was enough for His own ministry, but He 
sent His disciples into the whole world. Morality He 
identified with obedience to Himself. Men's accept- 
ance by God He made to depend on their acceptance 
of his claims and of His gifts. He announced the 
forgiveness of sin as connected with the merits of His 
own death for the sinner. He gave the world its 
his sacrifice highest idea of God, and yet made 
for sin. Himself equal with that God. He 
predicted his death, and that He should rise again; 
and to His disciples, not expecting this, He did appear, 
and in the power of their conviction that God had 
given Him the victory over death, they went into all 
the world preaching the Gospel of His kingdom. 

13. For the first time, without the force of arms, 
the religion of Israel left the highlands, in which it 
had been so long confined, and 

THE RISE. n ,1.1 

flowed out upon the plains, the sea, 
the desert places, and the populous places of the 
world's commerce. With the Book of Acts we are on 
the sea-coast and among Greek cities ; the faith spreads 
to Antioch, and then bursts westward along the old 
Phoenician lines by Cyprus, the coasts of Asia Minor, the 
Greek isles and mainland, to Italy, Africa and Spain. 

Then came the swift passage to Mo- 

THE FAI.1V. - ' . . - r ° 

hammedanism in the 7th century. 
The Mohammedan era began in 622, Damascus fell 
in 634, Jerusalem in 637, Antioch in 638. The rea- 
sons of this rapid displacement of the one religion by 



26 



THE HOLY LAND. 



the other are very clear. When they met and fought 
for Palestine Christianity was corrupt and rent asunder 
by national strifes. Mohammedanism was simple, 
austere, full of faith, united. The Christians were 
driven to the heights of Lebanon, or were suffered to 
remain only about Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and a few 
other localities. Then came the Crusades, and Pales- 
tine was settled and built over almost as fully as any 
part of contemporary Europe. How firmly they built ! 
To-day their mortar is harder than the stone it binds. 
After this interval of Christian rule comes the long 
period of silence and crumbling, and 

THE PRESENT. , .1 i , i r 

then we see the living churches ol 
to-day, the flourishing missions and schools of nearly 
every sect in Christendom, and the long lines of pil- 
grims coming up to Jerusalem from the four corners of 
the world. 




wink PRESS. 



CHAPTER III. 



SOME MAGNIFICENT PROSPECTS. 

14. It may assist the reader to grasp the various 
features of the Holy Land, if he be helped to see it 
with his own eyes as it lies to-day. The smallness of 
Palestine enables us to make this view nearly com- 
plete from three or four different points. 

First, let us take our stand upon one of the cen- 
tral hills. Of the two hills near Shechem, G^rizim is 
the more famous historically, but 
Ebal is higher, and has the further 
prospect. The view from Ebal virtually covers the 
whole land. Looking south, you have at your feet 
the pass through the range, with Nablus ; then over 
it the mass of Gerizim, with a ruin or two ; and then 
twenty-four miles of hilltops, at the back of which 
you dimly discern a tower. That is Neby Samwil, 
the ancient Mizpeh. Jerusalem is only five miles 
beyond, and to the west the tower overlooks the 
Shephelah. Turning westward, you see the range 
letting itself down, by irregular terraces onto the 
plain ; the plain itself flattened by the height from 
which you look, but really undulating to mounds of 
one and two hundred feet ; beyond the plain, the 
gleaming sandhills of the coast and the infinite blue 
sea. Joppa lies southwest thirty-three miles ; Cse- 
serea northwest twenty-nine. Turning northward, 

27 



28 



THE HOLY LAND. 



we have the long ridge of Carmel running down from 
its summit, perhaps thirty-five miles distant to the 
low hills that separate it from our range ; over the 
rest of this the hollow that represents Esdraelon ; 
over that the hills of Galilee in a haze, and above the 
haze the glistening shoulders of Hermon, at seventy- 
five miles of distance. Sweeping south from Her- 
mon, the eastern horizon is the edge of Hauran 
above the Lake of Galilee, continued by the edge of 
Moab, away to the southeast. This line of the eastern 
range is maintained at a pretty equal level, nearly that 
on which we stand, and seems unbroken, save by the 
incoming valleys of the Yarmuk and the Jabbok. It 
is only twenty-five miles away, and on the near side 
of it lies the Jordan valley — a great wide gulf, of 
which the bottom is out of sight. On this side Jor- 
dan, the foreground is the hilly bulwark of Mount 
Ephraim, penetrated by a valley coming up from Jor- 
dan into the plain of the Mukneh to meet the pass that 
splits the range at our feet. 

15. The view seems bare to Western eyes. The 
hills are of a dull brown, with here and there lighter 
shades, here and there darker. Look through the 
glass and you see that the lighter are wheat fields 
ripening, the darker are olive groves, sometimes two 
miles in extent, not thick like woods in our country, 
but with the trees wide apart, and the ground culti- 
vated beneath. Had we looked west from this spot 
even so recently as the Crusades, we should have 
seen Sharon one oak forest from coast to mountain. 



SOME MAGNIFICENT PROSPECTS. 



29 



Carmel is now green with its carobs and oak saplings. 
But near us are only the walnuts and sycamores of 
Nablus. In valley beds or on hilly knolls are the 
villages. There are no farm-houses, for the land is 
still what it has been from the days of Gideon and 
of Deborah — a disordered land where homes cannot 
safely lie apart. In all the prospect the most verdant 
valley is that which lies at our feet, flowing out on the 
east to a sea of yellow grain. Anciently vineyards 
would have reposed where are now only ruined ter- 
races. In Herod's day the battlements of Cseserea 
and its great white temple above the harbor would 
have flashed to us in the forenoon sun; behind Ebal 
the city of Samaria would have been still splendid and 
populous; a castle would have crowned Gerizim; 
there would have been more coming and going on the 
roads, and the sound of trumpets would have arisen 
oftener than it does to-day from the little garrison 
below. In the time of the Crusades we should have 
seen Christian churches with high gables, cupolas 
and spires, with castles here and there, and under 
their shelter cloisters and farm-houses. That must 
have been one of the greatest changes the look of the 
land has undergone. 

But during all these ages the great long lines of 
the land would be spread out exactly in the same way 
as now — the straight coast and its broad plain ; the 
range that rolls from our feet north and south, 
with its eastern buttresses falling to the unseen bot- 



30 



THE HOLY LAND. 



torn of the Jordan Valley, across this the long level 
edge of the table-land of the East. 

1 6. It is on Ebal, too, that we feel the size of the 
Holy Land — Hermon and the heights of Judah both 
within sight, w r hile Jordan is not twenty, nor the coast 
thirty miles away. What an influence this little 
province has had on the history of the world. The 
explanation is suggested by the sight of a little heap 
of brown stones in the valley ; for that marks the 
site of Jacob's well. The old path runs by it, over 
which the patriarchs first entered the land, although 
the shadow of a telegraph post now falls upon it, and 
the Greek church have begun to build over it. There 
sat the Saviour of the world, while he spake of His 
kingdom : " Neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem 
shall ye worship the Father ; but the time cometh, and 
now is, when true worshipers shall worship the 
Father in spirit and in truth." (John iv. 21, 23.) 

17. Or take the "Excellency of Carmel." I 
know that it has grow r n the fashion to despise the 
scenery of Palestine. The ordinary tourist, missing 
the comforts of travel, feels a sense of disappointment 
in this land which has been stripped and starved, till 
its bones protrude and its battered remains are in 
many places ghastly and unsightly. Yet, even as it 
lies to-day, there are, in the Holy Land, some pros- 
pects as bold and rich as any you will see in countries 
famed for their picturesqueness. There is the coast 
line from the headland of Carmel — northwards the 
gulf of Haifa, with its yellow sands and palms ; 



SOME MAGNIFICENT PROSPECTS. 



31 



across them, brown, crumbling Accho, and further 
mount north in the haze, the white ladder 

carmei,. G f Tyre ; southwards Sharon with 
her scattered forest, her coast of sand and grass, 
and the haggard remains of Athlit, her last foot 
hold of the Crusaders ; westwards the green sea, 
and the wonderful shadows of the clouds upon 
it — gray when you look at them with your face 
to the sun, but, with the sun behind you, purple, 
and more like Homer's wine-colored water than 
anything to be seen on the Mediterranean. To 
the north, the wheat fields of Esdraelon climb up to 
the first bare rocks, over which grow thick bushes and 
scrub, young ilex, wild olives and pines, with an 
undergrowth of large purple thistles, hollyhock, honey 
suckle and convolvulus. Then higher up on the 
mountain are seen olive groves, their dull-green mass 
banked by the lighter colored forest trees, with here 
and there a broad meadow, where in the shadow of 
great oaks, one may lie and look far out to sea. 

18. Throughout the Old Testament Carmel appears 
either as a symbol or as a sanctuary. His huge form, 
visible from so many quarters of the land, makes him 
the picture of all that is fact and not dream, while his 
headlong sweep seawards is the very token of what 
will surely come and not fail. As I live," saith Jeho- 
vah, ' ' surely like Tabor among the mountains, and like 
Carmel by the sea, shall he come." The two hills 
stand at opposite ends of Esdraelon, each separate 
from the other hills, and each imposing its bulk on the 



32 



THE HOLY LAND. 



plain. But Carmel's long sweep northwestwards 
invests him with the appearance of having come there. 
Some hills suggest immovableness, and others, with 
their long greyhound backs, are full of motion. 

It is the peculiarity of Carmel to combine these 
effects, and to impress those who look upon him with 
the sense of one long stride over the plain, and a firm 
foothold on the sea. It is not, however, only his shape 
that is symbolic. Sweeping seawards, Carmel is the 
first of Israel's hills to meet the rains, and they give 
him of their best. He is clothed in verdure. To-day 
it is mostly wild jungle of oak and carob, with here 
and there a grove of great trees. But in ancient times 
most of the hill was cultivated. The name means 
" fertile field," and in the rock beneath the wild bush 
that now covers so much of it, grooved floors and 
troughs have been traced, sufficiently numerous to be 
the proof of large harvests of grape and olive. The 
excellency of Carmel as applied to humanity meant 
physical beauty (Sol. Song 7, 5); as applied to God 
it signified his lavish goodness. That Carmel should 
languish is the prophet's most desperate figure of deso- 
lation. 

But it is as a sanctuary that the long hill is 
best remembered in its history. In its separation 
from other hills, its position on the sea, its visibleness 
from all quarters of the country — from Joppa, from 
Tyre, as well as from the hills of,Gilead; in its use- 
lessness for war or for traffic; in its profusion of 
flowers, its high groves with their glorious prospects 



SOME MAGNIFICENT PROSPECTS. 



33 



of land and sea, Carmel must have been a place of 
retreat and of worship from the earliest times. It was 
claimed for Baal; but even before Elijah's day an 
altar had stood upon it for Jehovah. About this 
altar — as on a spot whose sanctity they equally felt — 
the rival faiths met in that contest, in which, for most 
of us, all the history of Carmel consists. That awful 
debate between Elijah and the false prophets as to 
whether Baal or Jehovah was supreme Lord of the 
elements was fought out for a full day in face of one 
of the most sublime prospects of earth and sea and 
heaven. Before him who stands on Carmel, nature 
rises in a series of great stages from sea to Alp; the 
Mediterranean, the long coast to north and south, 
with its hot sands and palms; Esdraelon covered with 
wheat, Tabor and the lower hills of Galilee with their 
oaks; then, over the barer peaks of Upper Galilee, 
and the haze that is about them, the clear snows of 
Hermon, hanging like an only cloud in the sky. It 
was in face of that miniature universe that Jehovah 
who was righteousness was vindicated as Lord, instead 
of Baal. It was over all that realm that the rain 
swept up at the call of the same God, who exposed 
the injustice of the tyrant Ahab, 

19. What a prospect had Jesus from the top of the 
hill back of his boyhood home ! Esdraelon lies before 
from y° u > or a t least all its western part, 

nasareth w i t h i ts twenty battlefields — the 
scenes of Barak's and Gideon's victories, the scenes 
of Saul's and of Josiah's defeats, the scenes of 

3 



34 



THE HOLY LAND. 



the struggles for freedom in the glorious days of 
the Maccabees. There is Naboth's vineyard and 
the place of Jehu's revenge upon Jezebel ; there is 
Shunem and the house of Elisha ; on the left is seen 
the round top of Tabor over the intervening hills, 
with portions of Little Hermon and Gilboa, and the 
opposite mountains of Samaria, from Jenin westwards 
to the lower hill extending towards Carmel. Then 
come the long line of Carmel itself, with the convent 
of Elias on its northern end, and Haifa on the shore 
at its foot. In the west lies the Mediterranean gleam- 
ing in the morning sun ; seen first far in the south on 
the left of Carmel ; then interrupted by that mountain ; 
and again appearing on its right, so as to include the 
whole Bay of Accho and the coast stretching far 
north. Near by, on the north, lies one of the most 
beautiful plains of Palestine, called El Buttauf ; it 
runs from east to west, and its waters are drained off 
westwards through a narrower valley to the Kishon at 
the foot of Mount Carmel. Beyond this plain long 
ridges running from east to west rise one higher than 
another ; until the mountains of Safed overtop them 
all, on which that place is seen, a city set on a hill. 
Further towards the right is a sea of hills and mount- 
ains, backed by the higher ones beyond the Lake of 
Tiberias, and in the northeast rises majestic Her- 
mon with its icy crown. You see thirty miles in three 
directions. It is a map of Old Testament history. 

In the village below the Saviour of the world 
passed his childhood. Here the Prince " of Peace 



36 



THE HOLY LAND. 



looked down upon the great plain, where the din of 
battles so oft had rolled ; and he looked out, too, 
upon that sea over which the swift ships were to bear 
the tidings of his salvation to nations and to conti- 
nents then unknown. Across Esdraelon ran the road 
to Jerusalem, thronged annually with pilgrims, and 
the road to Egypt with its merchants going up and 
down. The Midianite caravans could be watched for 
miles coming up from the fords of the Jordan ; and 
the caravans from Damascus wound round the foot of 
that very hill. Near by was another road in sight, 
the highway between Accho and the Decapolis, along 
which legions marched, and princes swept with their 
retinues, and all sorts of travelers from all countries 
went to and fro. 

Here, then, he grew up and suffered temptation, 
who was tempted in all points like as we are, yet 
without sin. The perfection of his purity and patience 
was achieved not easily, as behind a wide fence which 
shut the world out, but amid rumor and scandal with 
every provocation to unlawful curiosity and premature 
ambition. The pressure and problems of the world 
outside God's people must have been felt by the 
youth of Nazareth as by few others, yet the scenes 
of prophetic missions to the world, Elijah's and 
Elisha's, were also within sight (Luke 4, 24). A 
vision of all the kingdoms of the world was as possi- 
ble from this village as from the mount of temptation. 
But the chief lesson which Nazareth teaches to us is 



SOME MAGNIFICENT PROSPECTS. 



37 



the possibility of a pure home and a spotless youth m 
the very face of the evil world. 

20. During their journey to the promised land the 
children of Israel had no outlook westward across the 
Dead Sea. For the hills shut out the view. But 
from when they arrived nearly opposite 

pisgah. {he north end of the Dead Sea all 

Western Palestine was in sight. The spot is now 
called Neba, and is the ancient Nebo upon Mount 
Pisgah. The whole of the Jordan valley appears, 
from Engedi, to where the hills of Gilead seem to 
meet those of Ephraim. The Jordan flows below; 
Jericho is visible beyond. Over Gilead Hermon can 
be seen. The view is that described as the last on 
which the eyes of Moses rested, the higher hills of 
Western Palestine shutting out all possibility of a 
sight of the sea. It is ''the head of Pisgah, which 
looketh down upon the face of Jeshimon." It w 7 as 
probably the well-watered glen on the north, the 
present Wells of Moses, where Israel camped. 

To Nebo the sacred story brings Moses to close his 
life ; to that long platform where the host, which he 
had guided through the desert for forty years, first lost 
their boundless, desert horizon, and saw the Promised 
Land open before them. And somewhere below the 
platform the Lord buried Moses, in a valley in the Land 
of Moab, over against Beth Peor, but no man knoweth 
of his sepulchre to this day. Between the streams 
that in these valley bottoms springwfull born from the 
rocks, and the sunny grain fields on the plateau of 



38 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Moab above, there are some thousand feet of slopes 
and gullies, where no foot comes, the rock is crumb- 
ling, and utter silence reigns, save for the west wind 
moaning through the thistles. Here Moses was laid. 
Who would wish to know the exact spot ? The whole 
region is a sepulchre. 

Near this same spot the last of the prophets, John 
the Baptist, was also buried. About 100 B. C, Alex- 
ander Janneus made the Moabites tributary to the 
Jews. He built Machaerus, and Herod rebuilt it and 
made it the second citadel of Judea. John, preaching 
near in Perea, had denounced the marriage of Herodias, 
and Herod arrested him, and cast him into the dun- 
geons of Machserus. Here the revelry of the king's 
birthday took place, and in the same moments, within 
the same walls, the murder of the prophet. Machae- 
rus overlooks the Dead Sea ; it was another of those 
awful tragedies for which nature has furnished here so 
sympathetic a theater. Thus Moses and John, the 
first and the last of the prophets, thirteen centuries 
between them, closed their lives almost on the same 
spot. Within sight also is the scene of the translation 
of Elijah. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE SEACOAST. 

Palestine, between the seacoast and the desert, 
is disposed in a series of four parallel lines running 
north and south : 

THE THE THE THE 

MARITIME CENTRAL JORDAN EASTERN 

PLAIN. RANGE. VALLEY. RANGE. 

Now, were there no modifications of the central 
backbone of the country, the geography of Palestine 
would be simple, and its history far different from 
what it has actually been. 

But the central range is broken in two by a great 
battlefield, the Plain of Esdraelon, which unites the 
Jordan Valley with the Maritime Plain. 

21. Let us study, first, the seacoast. It is almost 
a straight line from north to south, with a slight 
inclination westward. There is no large island near, 
no deep bay or large, fully sheltered harbor. North 
of the headland of Carmel, nature has so far assisted 
man by thrusting here a cape and there an islet that 
a few harbors have been formed which have been 
and which may again become historical. 
the south South of Carmel the coast has been 

coast. much more strictly drawn. The 

mountains no longer come so near to it as to cut 
up the water with their roots. But sand hills and 

39 



4 o 



THE HOLY LAND. 



cliffs, from thirty to a hundred feet high, run straight 
on to the flat Egyptian Delta, without either pro- 
montory or recess. A jutting rock at Athlit, two 
curves of the beach at Tanturah, twice low reefs at 
Abu Zaburah and Joppa, the faint promise of a dock 
at Ashkelon, with the barred mouths of five or six 
small streams, such are all the possibilities of harbor- 
age on this coast. 

Of this natural inhospitality, two consequences 
followed in the history of the land. In the first place, 
no invader ever disembarked an army south of Carmel 
till the country beyond the coast was already in his 
power. Alexander, Pompey, the first Crusaders and 
Napoleon found their way into Palestine by land, 
either from Egypt or from Asia Minor. Other Cru- 
saders disembarked farther north, at Accho or Tyre. 
This southern part of the coast has never produced 
a maritime people. It is true that the name Phoe- 
nicia once extended as far south as Egypt ; but the 
Phoenicians cannot be said to have been at home 
south of Carmel. Phoenicia proper lay to the north 
of that headland ; from Carmel to Egypt the tribes 
were agricultural, or interested in the land trade alone. 
It was not till a seafaring people like the Greeks had 
planted their colonies in Sharon or Philistia that great 
harbors were seriously attempted. 

It is true that the crusading ruins at Athlit are 
numerous and solid ; there is a castle, a church, and 
the remains of a mighty sea-wall. Yet the men who 



THE SEACOAST. 



41 



built these, built out into the sea nothing but a jetty 
that is now covered by the waves. 

Caesarea had a great port, yet nothing but part of 
its wall remains. Every one has heard of the open 
roadstead at Joppa, with the reefs that are more 
dangerous in foul weather than they are useful in fair. 

At Ashkelon there are visible at low water two 
shallows of crescent shape, which are perhaps remains 
of ancient harbors, and at the bottom of the rocky 
basin, in which the city was built, 
explorers think that they can trace 
the remains of a little dock ; but the sand, which 
drifts so fast up the coast, has choked the dock, and 
in the sea there is only a jetty left. Thus, while the 
cruelty of many another wild coast is known by the 
wrecks of ships, the Syrian shore south of Carmel is 
strewn with the fiercer wreckage of harbors. It 
seems as if the land were everywhere saying to the 
sea : I do not wish you, I do not need you. And 
this echoes through most of the Old Testament. The 
sea is mentioned for spectacle, for symbol, for music, 
for promise, but never for use — save in one case, 
when a prophet sought it as an escape from his God. 
In the Psalms, in the Prophets, in the History, the sea 
was a barrier, and not a highway. From the first it 
was said : Ye shall have the great sea for a border. 
Of the name or idea of a port, a gateway in and out, 
there is no trace. In this inability of their coast-line 
to furnish the language with a single word for port, 
we have a crowning proof of the peculiar security and 



42 



THE HOLY LAND. 



seclusion of their land as far as the sea is con- 
cerned. 

22. What is called the harbor of Joppa is only a 
small basin formed by natural rocks, partly visible 
and partly under water. There are 

JOPPA. 

three places at which an entrance to 
this basin may be made by small vessels. One to the 
north is broad, but dangerous on account of sand- 
banks. To the south another, called the Moon-pool, 
is probably the opening through which the rafts of 
Hiram, King of Tyre, were towed into the inner basin, 
but it has long been practically closed by sand. The 
only available entrance is on the northwest, where 
there is a passage of not more than a hundred feet in 
width, through which, however, only row-boats and 
small crafts can pass. The houses are built of tufa 
stone, without windows, except those which open on 
an inner court. There is no such thing as a sidewalk, 
nothing whatever in the nature of a pavement. The 
road is one general accumulation of filth, through 
which it is difficult to pick a way on foot. There is 
little to detain the traveler in the city proper. We 
may as well take a hasty glance at its history. At the 
time of the Israelitish conquest it was already in 
existence, and it was given by Joshua to the tribe of 
Dan. In the time of David, Joppa became the port 
of Jerusalem, and it was to that port that Hiram, 
King of Tyre, sent his floats of timber for the building 
of the temple (2 Chron. 2, 16). Just when it was 
that Jonah set out on his missionary journey to 



THE SEACOAST. 



43 



Nineveh, or by what route he expected to reach his 
destination, or what the ship of Tarshish was in which 
he sailed, or what manner of fish it was that swallowed 
him, is not historically known. Joppa is famous in 
the history of the Maccabees. Judas Maccabeus 
captured it and burned the shipping. Jonathan and 
Simon Maccabeus fortified it and placed a garrison 
there, and opened the haven. This was a great relig- 
ious movement on the part of Simon. Twice the 
Syrians retook Joppa; twice Hyrcanus won it back. 
Then, after twenty years of Jewish possession, Pom- 
pey came in 63 B. C. , and decreed that, with other 
coast towns, it should be a free city of Rome. Caesar 
restored it to the Jews. 

Herod the Great occupied it, and his possession of 
it was confirmed to him by the Emperor Augustus. 
But Joppa was violently Jewish. Though it was trib- 
joppa was utary to Herod he never resided 
Jewish. there, or tried to rebuild it, or to 
plant heathen features upon it. In close commerce 
with Jerusalem, Joppa was infected with the fanatic 
patriotism of the latter ; on ground which was free 
from heathen buildings and rites, the Pharisees must 
have practiced their religion in strict obedience. This 
was the state of affairs when Peter came down from 
Jerusalem to Joppa, and dreamt of things clean and 
unclean, on the housetop overlooking the harbor. It 
was here that Peter raised Dorcas to life (Acts 9, 
36-43). It was here that he tarried many days with 
one Simon a tanner (Acts 9, 43). After varying 



44 



THE HOLY LAND. 



fortunes at the hands of Crusader and Saracen, it was 
completely devastated m 1267. The city was fortified 
by the English, and the fortifications were extended 
by the Turks, who still hold it. 

23. If we turn to the neighboring Caeserea, we 
see as great a contrast as was possible on the same 
coast. Was Joppa Jewish, national, patriotic, Cse- 
serea was Herodian, Roman in obedience, Greek in 
culture. At first the Herodian strongholds had all 
lain on the east of Palestine, and for the most part in 
cj^sarea a wild, inaccessible places, like Mach- 

roman city. srus anc [ Masada, as best became a 
family not sure of its station, and sometimes chased 
from power by its enemies. But when Herod won 
the favor of Augustus, and time made it clear that the 
power of Augustus was to be permanent, Herod came 
over the central range of Palestine, and, on sites 
granted by his patron, built for himself cities that 
looked westward. He embellished and fortified both 
Jerusalem and Samaria. Then he looked for a sea- 
port. On the coast Augustus had given him Gaza, 
with Anthedon, Joppa and Strato's Tower. He chose 
the last. The reasons of his choice were political. 
It was more important for Herod to have a harbor 
suited to the city of Samaria, than to Jerusalem, for 
Samaria was nearer the sea and more in his own 
hands than the Holy City. Besides, as we have seen, 
Joppa was national rather than Herodian in spirit. 
Strato's Tower was virtually a fresh site. Here 
Herod laid the lines of a magnificent city, and spent 



THE SEACOAST. 



45 



twelve years in building it. He erected sumptuous 
palaces and large edifices, a temple on raised ground, 
a theater, and an amphitheater with prospect to the 
sea. But the greatest work of all was the haven. 
Thus Caesarea speedily became, and long continued 
to be, the virtual capital of Palestine — the only 
instance of a coast town which ever did so. The 
gateway to Rome, the place was always a piece of 
Latin soil. The procurator had his seat in it, there 
was an Italian garrison, and on the great white temple 
that shone out over the harbor to the far seas, stood 
two statues — of Augustus and of Rome. It was 
heathenism in all its glory at the very door of the true 
religion. Yes, but through this door to the west went 
the true religion to all parts of the world. 

To Jewish Joppa Jewish Peter came. As he moved 
about its narrow lanes, jostled by foreign sailors and 
peter>s foreign wares, he grew more con- 

vision. cerned than ever about the ceremo- 

nial law. While food was being prepared he saw, 
above this jealous bit of earth, heaven opened, and a 
certain vessel descending as it had been a great sheet, 
perhaps the sail of one of those large western ships, 
wherein were all beasts and fowls of the air. To his 
strict conscience the contents had been a temptation 
to sin. And the voice said unto him, what God hath 
cleansed, call not thou common. The vision took 
place at Joppa, but the fact was fulfilled at freer Cae- 
sarea. Here, in a Roman soldier's house, in face of 
the only great port broken westward through Israel's 



4 6 



THE HOLY LAND. 



stormy coast, the Gentile Pentecost took place, and 
on the Gentiles was poured out the gift of the Holy 
Ghost. 

Again, in the narrative of Paul's missions, Caesarea 
is the harbor by which he reaches Syria from Ephesus, 
PAui, at an d from which he sails on his last 

c^serea. voyage for Italy. More significant 
still were his removal from Jerusalem and the anxiety 
of the Jewish authorities to get him brought back to 
Jerusalem. In the Holy City they would not give him 
a fair hearing. In Caesarea he was heard to the end of 
his plea. But for his appeal to Caesar he would have 
been acquitted, and during two whole years in which 
he lived in the place, receiving his friends and enjoy- 
ing a certain amount of liberty, no one ventured to 
waylay him. There were only some sixty miles between 
Caesarea and Jerusalem, but in the year 60 Caesarea 
was virtually Rome. 

When the town passed into the hands of an East- 
ern people, with no maritime ambitions, it dwindled, 
and was finally destroyed by them. Sultan Bibars, in 
1205, pick in hand, assisted at its demolition. When 
we come to deal with the strongholds of Samaria we 
shall see how they suffered the same changes of fortune 
according as an Eastern or Western race dominated 
the country. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE COASTS OF TYRE AND SIDON. 

24. From the Kishon northward the plain of 
Accho extends about twenty-five miles, with an 
average width of five, and ends at the rugged ridge of 
the Ladder of Tyre, which juts out two miles into 
the sea. This ridge itself is about eight miles wide, 
the ladder an d it has three distinct promon- 
of tyre. tories. The most southerly is the 
loftiest and the boldest. The middle one, however, 
is the true Ladder of Tyre, which consists of steps 
cut in the precipitous rock to afford a bridle path. 
The ride from Accho to Tyre is very wild and varied. 
A three-hours progress over the fine plain of Accho 
ends at the foot of bold cliffs of toilsome ascent. 
The path overhangs the sea, which commands beau- 
tifully, yet fearfully, to a great extent both behind and 
in the front. 

All is not barren ; the naked masses of rock are 
often relieved by more fertile places covered with 
lavender and rosemary, with a sprinkling of lofty 
trees. It is a silent, sublime and sea-beat scene, 
recalling vividly many parts of the British coast, 
where the Atlantic rolls its strength against the granite 
precipices ; so like in feature, in sound, in association, 
that at times one can scarcely believe this to be part 
of the ruined land of promise. Thickets of myrtle 

47 



4 8 



THE HOLY LAND. 



and bay at intervals border the narrow and rugged 
path which is cut through the calcareous rock. In 
one part the track is really perilous, winding on the 
side of vast perpendicular precipices, with the sea 
dashing far below, and the horrible path hanging above. 

From the Ladder of Tyre to the city of Tyre the 
road lies along the narrow plain, which bears the same 
name, and which is really more than two miles wide. 
The distance in a straight line is sixteen miles, but 
the winding of the shore makes the road something 
over twenty. 

About three miles south of Tyre is an ancient 
reservoir called Ras el Ain, or the Head of the Spring, 
where tradition has it that our Saviour was met by 
the Syrophenician woman (Mark 7, 24-31), whose 
humility in asking only for crumbs from the Master's 
table brought her so rich a reward. Somewhere in 
that narrow plain they must have met on the only 
occasion, certainly known to us, when his feet had 
trod on Gentile soil since the return from Egypt. 
Mediaeval tradition affirmed that he rested on a great 
stone near Ras el Ain, and that after drinking of its 
water, which Peter and John had brought Him, He 
blessed the beautiful spot whence it came. 

At present Tyre stands on a peninsula, but a more 
ancient town existed on the mainland, while the future 

tyri$ S * te °^ ^ e & rea ^ c l ueen c ^y °f Syria 

was yet two rocky and barren 

islands. The original name of that ancient town has 

perished. In history it is mentioned only as Palae- 



LADDER OF TYRE 



THE HOLY LAND. 



tyrus or Old Tyre; and though it continued to be 
inhabited for many ages, it became a suburb of the 
younger commercial city, which so far excelled it. At 
an early time a few islands were united by filling up 
the space between them with stones. The island city 
measured only 1 , 200 yards from north to south and 800 
from east to west. Its entire circuit did not amount 
to three miles, and its area was not over two hundred 
acres. On the northern side was a harbor of small 
extent, not having much over twelve acres of surface, 
and on the south there appears to have been a mole 
which formed another and larger harbor. But the 
Tyrean works have never been accurately traced. 
Only the immense size of the blocks of granite and 
the grand columns — grand though fallen — which are 
still to be seen, many of them under the waves, show 
that in its days of prosperity the ships of Tyre lacked 
no means of safety that art or industry could furnish. 

The narrow limits of Phoenicia proper, extending 
only from Tyre through Sidon to Berytus, the modern 
Beyrout, were in ancient times inhabited by a people 
history of °f one race w ho were called Sido- 
tyre. nians (1 Kings, 5, 6). In the time 

of Joshua, Tyre was a fortified place (Josh. 19, 29). 
Although it was allotted to the tribe of Asher, it was 
never taken into possession. There, as elsewhere, the 
children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, for 
they did not drive them out (Judg. 1, S 1 ^ 2 )- When 
David made his census, the Israelitish inhabitants of 
Tyre were included in the enumeration (2 Sam, 24, 7), 



THE COASTS OF TYRE AND SIDON. 



51 



Between Solomon and Hiram, King of Tyre, a strong 
friendship existed. A league was formed between the 
two monarchs for the exchange of commodities, and 
it was from Tyre that cedar and fir trees were obtained 
for the Temple at Jerusalem. 

After the division of Israel into kingdoms the 
northern division continued the alliance with Phoenicia, 
and King Ahab married the bloody Jezebel, who was 
a daughter of Ethbaal, King of the Sidonians (1 Kings, 
16, 31). Tyre held out for thirteen years against 
Nebuchadnezzar, but her dark day came when she 
was summoned to surrender to Alexander the Great. 
She clung to her Persian connection, and the con- 
queror attacked her. Secure in her island defenses, 
she defied the Macedonian; but Alexander constructed 
a road between the city and the mainland, which the 
sand has now made half a mile in width. Attacked 
from the land side Tyre fell, and the conqueror put 
many thousands to death, and sold 30,000 captives 
into slavery. 

Gradually Tyre recovered from this fearful blow. 
First under the Syrians and then under the Romans, 
she was permitted to enjoy a reasonable measure of 
freedom. Under Augustus she again became wealthy; 
it was probably the largest city our Saviour ever vis- 
ited. Nazareth was only thirty miles from Tyre. 
Christianity was early planted at Tyre ; Paul found 
brethren in the city, with whom he spent seven days. 
She was taken by the Moslems in the seventh century, 
and by the Crusaders June 27, 11 24. The German 



52 



THE HOLY LAND. 



TOMB OF 
HIRAM. 



Emperor Frederick Barbarossa was buried there. Re- 
taken by the Saracens in the fourteenth century, it 
soon fell into decay, and in 175 1 it had only ten inhab- 
itants. It has now a population of about five thou- 
sand. The most interesting ruin is the Crusaders' 
church of St. Mark, built by the Venetians. 

Two or three miles to the eastward is one of the 
most ancient and striking monuments in all Syria. It 
is called the Tomb of Hiram. The pedestal consists 
of huge stones in two tiers, above which is still a 
thicker slab of rock overhanging the 
rest of the pedestal on all sides. On 
the slab rests a massive sarcophagus of irregular pyra- 
midal form covered with a stone lid. Excavations 
made bv Renan show that there is a rock chamber 
under the tomb, with a stairway from the north end of 
the monument. The route from Tyre to Sidon runs 
along the narrow plain by the sea, through a country 
full of interest from the many antiquities which are 

everywhere tobe found. 
Sljf*^ The road crosses the 
|=j|jg§a. river Litany, which has 
its chief source near 
^ Baalbec far to the north 
gS of Mount Hermon, and 
' rushes through the wild- 
ly est gorges in Palestine, 
to lose itself in the Med- 
iterranean. 

Along the same road 

TOMB OF HIRAM. 




THE COASTS OF TYRE AND SIDON. 



53 



by the sea the grim yet gentle prophet Elijah went, 
when the sky was like brass, and the whole earth 
was parched under a three years' drought. In a little 
town upon a hillside by the sea lived the widow who 
was to minister to the prophet at that time. Her barrel 
of meal did not waste, neither did her cruse of oil 
fail, until the day that the Lord sent rain upon the 
earth. 

25. Sidon, now called Saida, shows decided signs 
of revival, but it is far from the glory which it once 
had. In Gen. 10, 15, Sickm is called the first-born 
son of Canaan. His descendants 

SIDON. 

had their original abode near the 
Persian Gulf. Their territory once extended far inland 
from the Phoenician coast. Soon, however, Tyre out- 
stripped the mother city, and assumed a leading posi- 
tion which Sidon never regained. In the book of 
Joshua, 19, 28, Sidon is dignified as the Great. 
Christianity was introduced into Sidon at an early 
date. On his journey to Rome Paul was permitted 
to visit friends here (Acts 27, 3). In the seventh 
century Sidon submitted to the followers of the False 
Prophet without a blow. After a siege of six weeks it 
was taken by Baldwin in nil. In 11 87, after the 
battle of Kurn Hattin, Saladin razed it to the ground. 
Ten years later it was rebuilt by the Crusaders, and 
continued with varying fortunes for two centuries till 
it was cruelly devastated by the Saracens. In i860 
the Christian population was cruelly persecuted by the 
Mohammedans and nearly 2,000 perished. Since then 



54 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Sidon has had a rest. It has the usual prosperity of a 
modern Syrian trading town. The population is 
about 10,000. 

Travelers usually land at Beyrout, a city of about 
50,000, which owes its prosperity largely to the mis- 
sion schools of the American Presbyterian Board. It 
is beautifully situated on a promon- 

B^YROUT. 

tory. On the east, beyond the plain 
and the foothills, rise the snowy crests of Lebanon. 
In the environs are orchards of bananas and oranges. 
The anchorage is good ; all along the shore are quays 
built of large hewn stones. 

Mount LebanonJike an everlasting wall protects it 
on the east. The rosy tint of the mountain and the 
deep blue of the sea form a picturesque contrast. By 
moonlight Mount Lebanon looks like an august mon- 
arch w r ith a diadem of stars around his snowy turban, 
with his head in heaven and his feet upon the sea. 

26. Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon are branches of 
the Taurus range, of hard white calcareous rock, with 
frequent indications of volcanic origin. Their sides 
are dotted with forests of low growth, 
and, though the soil is scanty, the 
industrious peasants have planted vineyards on arti- 
ficial terraces, and mulberry trees to feed the silk worm. 
In crossing the Lebanon the traveler has a constant 
succession of grand and varied scenes. It is like open- 
ing a plain rough case of jewels and finding the pre- 
cious contents within ; for when your road has been 
for a time rough, steep and rocky, at some turn you 



THE COASTS OF TYRE AND SIDON. 55 

find yourself passing through vineyards and villages, 
the air breathing fragrance, and the cheerful songs of 
birds regaling your ear on every side. To me the Alps 
were interesting, but never did I so learn to commune 
with nature, and to appreciate the grandeur of God's 
mountains, as when passing over this famous range, 
where God has so often passed in judgment, and is 
still manifesting magnificence and beauty. There is 
no place where the manifold littleness and greatness of 
man and the love and righteousness of God prompts 
more naturally to hymns of praise than where . they may 
sound in concert with the roar of the mighty torrent, or 
w T hen the dawn breaks over the silence of these ever- 
lasting hills. 

The builders of Baalbec chose for its location what 
may be called a low footstool of Anti-Lebanon, a low 
hill spurring out from the base of 
that stately range. You ride for 
hours across the plain with six majestic columns all 
the while in full view. These columns stand upon a 
stone platform which is supported by a wall in which 
there are three great stones of huge dimensions, each 
sixty-four feet in length, and thirteen feet in breadth 
and depth. If hollowed out, one of them would 
make a roomy tunnel for the passage of a railway 
train, or a very respectable country schoolhouse. 
Bear in mind that these kings among stones were 
brought from a distance of half a mile, and then 
lifted to their positions in the wall. By what process 
this was accomplished is not now known. But in 



56 



THE HOLY LAND. 



those days men were cheap, and human muscle in 
unlimited supply will solve almost any mechanical 
problem. The exquisite carvings show signs of Greek 
art in the entablature with egg and cup and small cubes. 
There are marble festoons of fruit, flowers and foliage, 
and the whole temple grounds are collossal in propor- 
tion. Shall we admit that in those days men were 
giants in stature and achievement, and the world 
grows smaller as the ages advance ? And shall we 
hold our religion a little modestly in comparison with 
the ancient faiths that wrought so grandly ? Modest 
and respectful toward all I hope we shall be ; but still 
may we not rather say in regard to the smallness of 
our edifices, that we endeavor to build our religion not 
so much into peerless shrines, as into peerless men 
and women, living stones in the temple of our God, 
that shall survive when the idols are broke in the 
temple of Baal, and the might of the gentile, unsmote 
by the sword, hath melted like snow at the glance of 
the Lord. 

27. From Baalbec an easy journey of two days 
takes the traveler to Damascus. The latter part of 
the road is quite trying, as the barren rocks reflect the 
glaring rays of the sun. The first 
view of the city is obtained through 
a little archway of masonry, erected to the memory of 
some Mohammedan saint. For centuries travelers 
have gazed upon this same picture from this spot. 
The city bursts upon you like an enchanted vision. 
Beneath you is every possible shade of green foliage ; 



THE COASTS OF TYRE AND SIDON. 



57 



palm trees raise their stately heads, while the silver 
thread of the river glitters in the morning sun. And 
there sits the Queen of the Orient, with her foliage- 
feathered suburbs, peeping shyly at you, while a hun- 
dred long fingers of minarets point ever steadily upwards 
and the white arms of the streets strike out in every 
direction. Here Mohammed, then a mere camel driver 
from Mecca, stood in amazement at the scene below ; 
but, turning away without entering the city, he said, 
" Man can have but one paradise, and my Paradise is 
fixed above." 

Damascus — never claimed for Israel and never 
under a Hebrew prince — lies beyond the limits of the 
Holy Land ; but she has always been the goal of all 
the roads of the land, the dream and envy of the peo- 
ples. We have met her fame everywhere. She has 
seen the rise, felt the effect, and survived the passage 
of all the forces which have strewn Syria with ruins. 
There is not a fallen city of the Holy Land but Da- 
mascus was old when it was built, and still flourishes 
long after it has perished. Amid the growth and decay 
of the races, civilizations and religions which have 
thronged Syria for four thousand years, she demands 
our homage, with such appreciation as we may feel of 
the secret of her eternal youth. 

Like the slopes of Anti-Lebanon behind it, the 
plain of Damascus would be as des- 

XHB ABANA. r „ , . .' 

ert as all the rest of the country to 
the Euphrates were it not for the river Abana. The 
Abana bursts full born from the heart of Anti-Lebanon, 



58 



THE HOLY LAND. 



runs a course of ten miles in a narrow gorge, and from 
the mouth of this flings itself abroad in seven streams. 
After watering the greater part of the plain it dies 
away in a large marsh. Over the green of this marsh 
you see from Damascus, at sunset, low purple hills 
twenty-five miles off. They are the edge of the East- 
ern Desert ; beyond them there is nothing but a roll- 
ing waste, and the long roads to Palmyra and Bagdad. 

It is an astonishing site for what is said to be the 
oldest, and is certainly the most enduring, city of the 
world. For it is utterly incapable of defense ; it is 
remote from the sea and the great natural lines of 
commerce. From the coast of Syria it is doubly 
barred by those ranges of snow-capped mountains 
whose population enjoy more tempting prospects to 
the north and west. But look east and you under- 
stand Damascus. You would as soon think of ques- 
tioning the site of New York or of San Francisco. 



ing but desert beyond, or immediately behind this site ; 
because this river, the Abana, instead of wasting her 
waters on a slight extension of the fringes of fertile 
Syria, saves them in her narrow gorge till she can 
fling them well out upon the desert — it is because of 
all this that Damascus, so remote and so defenseless, 
has endured throughout human history, and must 
endure. Nineveh, Babylon and Memphis easily con- 
quered her — she probably preceded them and she 



THE CITY 
OF THE 
ORIENT. 



Damascus is a great harbor of refuge 
upon the earliest seaman learned to 
navigate. It is because there is noth- 



THE COASTS OF TYRE AND SIDON. 



59 



has outlived them. She has been twice supplanted — 
by Antioch, and she has seen Antioch decay ; by Bag- 
dad, and Bagdad is forgotten. She has been many 
times sacked, and twice, at least, swept into captivity, 
but this has not broken the chain of her history. She 
was once the capital of the world from the Atlantic to 
the Bay of Bengal, but the vast empire went from her, 
and yet the city continued to flourish as before. 
Standing on the outmost verge of fertility, on the shore 
of the voyaged desert, Damascus is indispensable 
alike to civilization and to the nomads. Moreover, 
she is the city of the Mediterranean world which 
lies nearest to the far East, and Islam has made her 
the western port for Mecca. 

The approach to Damascus is through suburban 
villages, between trees, over bridges, between high 
banks of gardens, road and river 

THE SUBURBS. b . 

together, flecked with light. You 
pass a five-arched bridge, through public gardens, ride 
on between the river and lofty trees till you halt in a 
great square, with the palace, the courts of justice, 
the prison, and the barracks crowded together. The 
river has disappeared, by three tunnels, under the 
square from which it passes in lesser conduits and pipes 
to every house and court in the city. By the northern 
walls a branch breaks above ground ; here gardens are 
spread beneath walnuts and poplars, and the water 
rushes by them swift and cold from its confinement. 

With the long gardens of Damascus, the paradise 
of the Arab world, you must take the Bazaars of 



6o 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Damascus, in which many other worlds meet the 
Arab. It is a perpetual banquet of color. There are 
blots upon it — Manchester calicoes, cheap Paris clocks, 
_ second-hand carriages from Bey- 

THB BAZAARS. fe J 

rout, the dusty streets themselves 
where they break out into the open glare of the sky 
above. But in the long dusky tunnels, shot through 
their whole length by solid shafts of light, all else is 
beautiful — the carpets, the old walnut wood, the 
tawny sweetmeats, the golden wheat, the piles of 
green melons, the tables of snow from Hermon, the 
armor and rich saddle bags, the costumes, the com- 
plexions, the pallid city chap, the tawny mahogany 
farmer, the Druze with mountain blood in his cheek, 
the great Jew, the black and blue-black negroes. 
Besides Turk and Hebrew, the great racial types are 
three : the Bedawee Arab, the Greek, and the Kurd. 
They are the token of how Damascus lies between 
the desert, the Levant, and that other region of the 
world to which we are so apt to forget that Palestine 
has any avenue — the Highlands of Armenia. Sala- 
din, her greatest Sultan, was a Kurd ; and the Kurd- 
ish cavalry have always formed the most vigorous 
part of the Damascus garrison. 

28. But even the Bazaars of Damascus fail to 
exhaust the significance of the city. To gather more 
thb great °f tms you must come out upon the 
roads. three great roads which go forth 

from her — west, south and east. The western road 
travels by Galilee to the Levant and the Nile. The 



THE COASTS OF TYRE AND SIDON. 6 1 

southern, which leaves the city by the " Gates of 
God," takes the pilgrims to Mecca. The eastern is 
the road to Bagdad. Egypt, Arabia, Persia — this city 
of the Califs lies in the midst of the three, and the 
Mediterranean is behind her. In the history of relig- 
ion Damascus was the stage of two great crises. She 
was the scene of the conversion of the first great apos- 
tle of Christianity to the Gentiles, ahd she was the first 
Christian city to be taken by Islam. It was fit that 
Paul's conversion, with his first sense of a mission to 

the Gentiles, should not take place 
RELIGIONS. .„ . . . . I- . . : 

till his journey had brought him to 

Gentile soil. The great cathedral which rose on the 

ruins of the heathen temple was dedicated, not to Paul, 

but to John the Baptist. When the Moslem took 

Damascus in 634, this church was divided between 

Mohammedans and Christians. Seventy years later it 

was absorbed by the conquerors, and was rebuilt to 

become one of the greatest, if not the richest, of the 

mosques of Islam. The rebuilding destroyed all the 

Christian features, except that which, still above the 

south portal, preserves this prayer and prophecy : 

4 4 Thy kingdom, O Christ, is an everlasting kingdom, 

and Thy dominion endureth for all generations." 



STREET IN DAMASCUS. 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE MARITIME PLAIN. 

29. Beyond the fordidding coast there stretches, 
as you look east, a prospect of plain, the Maritime 
Plain — on the north cut swiftly down upon by Carmel, 
whose headland comes within 600 feet of the sea, but 
at Carmel's southern end, six miles broad, and thence 
gradually widening southwards, till at Joppa there are 
twelve miles, and farther south there are thirty miles 
between the far blue mountains of Judaea and the 
sea. The Maritime Plain divides into three portions. 
The north corner between Carmel and the sea is 
bounded on the south by the Nahr-el-Zerka, and is 
nearly twenty miles long. Thence the Plain of Sharon, 
widening from eight miles to twelve, 

SHARON. 

rolls southward, forty-four miles to 
the south of the Nahr Rubin and a line of low hills 
to the south of Ramleh. This country is undulating 
with groups of hills from 250 to 300 feet high. To 
the north it is largely wild meadow and marsh, with 
long tongues of sand running in from the coast. 
There is one large oak grove in the very north, and 
smaller groves scatter southwards. These are the 
remains of a forest so extensive that it sometimes gave 
its name to the plain. Josephus describes it as the 
place called the forest. It is the same which the 
Crusaders named the Forest of Assur ; Tasso the 

63 



64 THE HOLY LAND. 

Enchanted Forest, and Napoleon the Forest of Miski. 
In the southern half of Sharon there is far more culti- 
vation — fields of grain and of melons, gardens, orange 
groves, and groves of palms, with strips of coarse 
grass and sand, frequent villages on mounds, the once 
considerable towns of Joppa, Lydda and Ramleh, and 
the high road running between them to Jerusalem. 

To the south of the low hills that bound Sharon the 
Plain of Philistia rolls on to the river of Egypt, about 
forty miles, rising now and again into gentle ranges 250 
feet high, and cut here and thereby a deep gully, with 
running water. But Philistia is mostly level, nearly 
all capable of cultivation, with few trees, and present- 
ing the view of a vast series of wheat fields. Wells 
may be dug almost anywhere. The only difficulty to 
agriculture is the drifting sand, which, in some places, 
has come two and a half miles inland. 

The whole Maritime Plain possesses a quiet but 
rich beauty. Outside the sandy shore of broken gold 
natural there is the blue sea, with its fringe 

beauty. Q f foam. Landward the soil is a 

chocolate brown, with breaks and gullies, at times 
mere stagnant puddles, and then again full of rich 
green reeds and rushes that tell of ample water be- 
neath. Over field and meadow a million flowers are 
scattered — poppies, anemones, the convolvulus, and the 
narcissus and blue iris, roses of Sharon and lilies of the 
valley. Lizards haunt all the sunny banks. The shim- 
mering air is filled with bees and butterflies, and with 
the twittering of small birds, hushed now and then as 



THE MARITIME PLAIN. 



65 



the shadow of a great hawk blots the haze. Nor when 
darkness comes on is all a blank. The soft night is 
sprinkled with glittering fireflies. 

The positions of the cities of the Maritime Plain 
are of extreme interest. We have already surveyed 
those on the coast. Those inland arrange themselves 
in two groups. Coming from the north, we find no 
inland town of any consequence till the mouth of the 
valley of Ajalon is reached. The second group are 
separated from these by the low hills on the Nahr Rubin 
and consist of the towns of Philistia. 

30. It is of course the incoming of the Vale of Ajalon 
that explains the first group, Ramleh, and Lydda 
with Antipatris. Lydda with Ono, a little farther out 
on the plain, and Hadid, on the edge of the hills 
behind, formed the most westerly of the Jewish settle- 
ments after the exile. The returned 

I/YDDA. 

Jews naturally pushed down the 
only broad valley from Jerusalem till they touched the 
edge of the great thoroughfare which sweeps past it. 
The site of their settlements is described as the Valley 
of the Smiths or Craftsmen. It is surely a recollec- 
tion of the days when there was no smith found 
throughout all the land of Israel, but the Hebrews 
came down to the Philistine border to get their plow- 
shares and their mattocks sharpened. The frontier 
position of Lydda made it the frequent subject of 
battle and treaty between the Jews and their suc- 
cessive enemies. Like all the other inland towns of 
Sharon, it appears never to have been fortified. After 
5 



66 



THE HOLY LAND. 



the destruction of Jerusalem, Lydda was emptied of 
everything Jewish, and made pagan, under the name 
of Diospolis. Judaism disappeared, but Christianity 
survived and there was a bishop of Diospolis. 

The chief Christian interest of Lydda, however, 
centers round her St. George. There is no hero 




CHURCH OF ST. GEORGE- 

whom we shall more frequently meet in Palestine, 
and especially east of the Jordan. St. George of 
st. george Lydda is St. George of England ; he 

AND THE • , -i 

dragon. 1S a * so a venerated personage in 
Moslem legend. For this triple fame, he has to 
thank his martyrdom on the eve of the triumph of 
Christianity. The original George was a soldier of 



THE MARITIME PLAIN. 



6/ 



good birth and served as a military tribune under Dio- 
cletian ; in 303 he was martyred. According to some, 
Lydda was the scene of his martyrdom. Lydda 
received his relics, and there a monastery was dedi- 
cated to him. The church was destroyed on the 
approach of the first Crusade. A new cathedral was 
built by the Crusaders over the tomb, and partly 
because of this, but also in gratitude for the super- 
natural intervention of the saint in their favor at 
Antioch, they dedicated it to him. It was a great pile 
of building capable of being used as a fortress. So on 
the approach of Richard, Saladin destroyed it. Rich- 
ard, who did more than any man to identify St. George 
with England, is said to have rebuilt the church ; the 
Arabs have perpetuated the Hebrew name of Lod in 
their Ludd. 

The connection of St. George with a dragon can be 
traced to the end of the sixth century. It was proba- 
bly due to two sources — to the coincidence of the mar- 
tyr's fame with the triumph of Christianity over pagan- 
ism, and to the conveyance to St. George of the legend 
of Perseus and Andromeda. It was in the neighbor- 
hood of Lydda that Perseus slew the sea monster, 
which threatened the virgin ; and we know how often 
Christian saints have been made heir to the fame of 
heathen worthies who have preceded them in the rev- 
erence of their respective provinces. 

About 700 A. D. Lydda suffered one of her many 
overthrows. The Arab general, who was the cause of 
this, saw the necessity of building another town in the 



68 



THE HOLY LAND. 



neighborhood, to command the junction of the roads 
from the coast to the interior, with the great caravan 
route from Egypt to Damascus. 

31. He chose a site nearly three miles from Lydda, 

and called the town Ramleh, the 

RAMI,EH. . 

sandy, and, indeed, there is no other 
feature to characterize it. Like the cathedrals of the 
plains of Europe, the mosque of Ramleh has a lofty 
tower, from which all the convergent roads may be 
surveyed for miles. Ramleh was once fortified. It 
suffered the varying fortunes of the wars of the Cru- 
sades, and since it became Mohammedan, in 1266, its 
Christian convent has continued to provide shelter to 
pilgrims on the road to Jerusalem. 

From Ramleh it is a long way back in time to Anti- 
patris. Antipatris was one of the creations of Herod, 
and appears to have been built, not as a fortress, but 
as a pleasant residence. Its site was probably just 
south of the modern El-Mir, at the copious spring called 
Ras el Ain. Here is all the wealth of water which Jo- 
sephus describes, as well as sufficient ruins to demon- 
strate that the site was once a place of importance. 

32. The chief cities of the Philistine league were 
five — Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath. Only 

five one, Ashkelon, is directly on the sea ; 

0™^^^ the others dominate the trunk road 
which keeps inland through Philistia. None lie north 
of the low hills of the Nahr Rubin. These two facts 
point to an immigration from the south and to an inter- 
est in the land-trade. This is confirmed by all that we 



THE MARITIME PLAIN. 



6 9 



know of the history of this strange people. That they 
moved up from Egypt is certain. Their religion seems 
to have consisted of the thorough Semitic fashion of 
reverencing a pair of deities, masculine and feminine. 
Dagon had a fish-goddess by his side. 

The Philistines ap- 
pear to have come into 
the Maritime Plain of 
Syria either shortly 
before or shortly after 
Israel left Egypt. In 
the Tell - el - Amarna 
Letters from South Pal- 
estine in the beginning 
of the fourteenth cen- 
tury B. C. they are not 
mentioned ; and in the 
latter half of that century the monuments of Rameses 
II. represent the citizens of Ashkelon with faces that 
are not Philistine faces, but probably Hittite. Now 
this agrees with the traditions in Genesis, one of which 
places the Philistine center still to the south of Gaza, 
in Gerar (Gen. xx. and xxvi.), while another states 
that the Canaanites once held all the coast from Gaza 
northwards (Gen. 10, 19 ; Deut. 2, 3). This northern 
advance of the Philistines may have been going on at 
the very time that the Israelites were invading the 
Canaanites from the east. The Philistines could not 
have been very powerful or very ambitious, for we 
hear of no conflicts with the Hebrews. Even when 




70 



THE HOLY LAND. 



the tribe of Dan had touched the sea, the opposition 
came not from Philistines, but from Amorites (Judges, 
i, 34). Very soon afterwards, however, the Philis- 
tines added to their effective force the tall Canaanites, 
the sons of Anak, whom they had subdued, and then 
moved north and east with irresistible power. Over- 
flowing from their districts, they seized all the coast to 
beyond Carmel, and spread inland over Esdraelon. It 
was during this time of expansion that they also invaded 
the highlands to the east of them, and began that con- 
flict with Israel which alone has given them fame and 
a history. 

33. Both Philistines and Hebrews 

PHILISTINES . 

and were immigrants into the land for 

contrasted. whose possession they fought through 
centuries. Both came up to it from 
Egypt. Both absorbed the populations they found 
upon it. Both succeeded to the Canaanite civilization, 
and came under the fascination of the Canaanite reli- 
gion. Each people had a distinct character of its own, 
and both were at different periods so victorious that 
either, humanly speaking, might have swallowed up the 
other. The Philistine gave his name to the land ; yet 
Israel survived and the Philistine disappeared. Israel 
attained to a destiny, equaled in the history of mankind 
only by Greece and Rome, whereas all the fame of 
the Philistine lies in having served as a foil to the 
genius of the Hebrews. 

What caused this difference between peoples 
whose earlier fortunes were so similar ? First, their 



THE MARITIME PLAIN. 



71 



geographical position, and, second, the spirit which 
was in one of them. The same Hand planted Israel 
on a rocky range of mountain, aloof from the paths 
of the great empires, and outside their envy. It 
planted the Philistines on an open doorway and a great 
thoroughfare, amidst the traffic and the war of two 
continents. They were bent, now towards Egypt, now 
towards Assyria, at a time when youthful Israel was 
growing straight and free as one of her own forest 
trees. And when at last they were overwhelmed by 
the streams of Greek culture which flowed along their 
coast in the wake of Alexander the Great, she upon 
her bare heights still stubbornly kept the law of her 
Lord. From the first Israel had within her a spirit, 
and before her an ideal, of which the Philistines knew 
nothing. 

The relations of Israel with Philistia naturally 
divide into three periods. There w T as first a period 
of military encounters, and alternate subjugation of 
the one people by the other. This passed through its 
heroic stage in the times of Samson, 

CONFLICT & ' 

with Saul and David ; entered a more 

peaceful epoch under Solomon ; and 
for the next three centuries of the Hebrew monarchy 
was distinguished by occasional raids from both sides 
into the heart of the enemies' country. The chief 
theater of the events of this period are the Shephelah 
hills and the valleys leading up through them upon 
Judah and Benjamin. At one time the Philistines are 
at Michmash, on the very citadel of Israel's hill-coun- 



7 2 



THE HOLY LAND. 



try, and at another near Jezreel, by its northern 
entrance. In both these cases their purpose may 
have been to extend their supremacy over the trade 
routes which came up from Egypt and crossed the 
Jordan ; but it seems just as probable that, by occu- 
pying Michmash and the Plain of Esdraelon, they 
sought to separate the tribes of Israel from one 
another. Occasionally Philistines penetrated to the 
neighborhood of Jerusalem (2 Sam. 5, 22), or the 
Israelite raids swept up to the gates of Gaza (2 Kings, 
18, 8) ; but neither people ever mastered the other's 
chief towns. 

The second period is that of the centuries from the 
eighth to the fourth before Christ, when the contests 
of the two nations are stilled before the advance upon 
Syria of the great world powers — Egypt, Assyria, 
foreign Babylon and Persia. Now, instead 

invasion. Q £ a pi c t ure Q f forays and routs up 

and down the intervening passes, we have the gaze of 
the Hebrew prophets looking down upon Philistia 
from afar, and marking her cities for destruction by 
the foreign invader. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zephaniah, 
Zechariah, speak of the Philistine cities, not hotly, as 
of enemies shortly to be met in battle, but pitifully, 
as victims of the Divine judgment, which lowers over 
Philistia and Israel alike. 

A change of attitude and of temper came with the 
third period, from the third century before Christ to 
the close of the Jewish revolts against Rome, in the 
third century after Christ. With Alexander's invasion 



THE MARITIME PLAIN. 



73 



the Philistine coast and cities were opened to Greek 
influence. 

There was traffic with Greece through the harbors, 
such as they were ; there were settlements of Greek 
men in all the cities, Greek institutions arose, the 

greek old deities were identified with 

influence. Greek gods, and, though the ancient 
Philistine stubbornness persisted, it was exercised in 
the defense of civic independence according to Greek 
ideas, and of Greek manners and morals. But it was 
against this Hellenism, that the sacred wars of the 
Maccabees broke out. Israel returned to close quar- 
ters with her ancient foes. Their battles raged on the 
same old fields ; their routs and pursuits up and 
down the same passes. The birthplace of the Macca- 
bees was in the valley of Ajalon, and their exploits 
within sight of the haunts of their predecessors a 
thousand years before. This hostility and active war- 
fare persisted till the last Jewish revolts under the 
Roman emperors. Then the Jews gave way, withdraw- 

christian- m S i n t° Galilee, and Christianity suc- 
ITY - ceeded to the heritage of the war 

against Hellenism. The slow conquest of heathenism 
by the Christian church continued to the beginning of 
the fifth century after Christ. In the same glens where 
the early peasants of Israel had beaten back the 
Philistine armies with ox-goads, and David, with his 
shepherd's sling, had slain the giant, simple Christian 
monks, with means just as primitive, gained the first 
victories for Christ over as strenuous a paganism. 



74 



THE HOLY LAND. 



After this, life in Philistia is almost silent till the Cru- 
sades, and after the Crusades till now. 

This rapid sketch of the three periods of Philistine 
history will prepare us for our review of the great Phil- 
istine cities. Let us take them now, from the south 
northwards. 

34. Gaza may be best described as the southern 
counterpart of Damascus It is a site of abundant 
fertility on the edge of a great desert 
— a harbor for the wilderness and a 
market for the nomads; once, as Damascus is still, the 
rendezvous of a great pilgrimage ; and, as Damascus 
was the first great Syrian station across the desert from 
Assyria, so Gaza is the natural outpost across the desert 
from Egypt. This, indeed, is to summarize her posi- 
tion and history. 

Gaza lies to-day where she lay in the most ancient 
times, on and around a hill, which rises 100 feet above 
the plain, at three miles distance from the sea. Fif- 
teen wells of freshwater burst from the sandy soil, and 
render possible the broad gardens and large popula- 
tion. The Bedouins, from a hundred miles away, come 
into the bazaars for their cloth, weapons and pottery. 
As from Damascus, so from Gaza, great trade-routes, 
traveled in all directions — to Egypt, to South Arabia, 
to Petra and Palmyra. Amos curses Gaza for traffick- 
ing in slaves with Edom (Amos, 1, 6). From all those 
eastern depots, on sea and desert, Gaza, by her har- 
bor, in Greek times forwarded the riches of Arabia and 
India across the Mediterranean, as Accho did by the 



THE MARITIME PLAIN. 



75 



Palmyra-Damascus route. To this day caravans set- 
ting out from Gaza meet the Damascus Hajj at Ma'en 
with pilgrims and supplies. 

35. But Gaza has even closer relations with Egypt. 
The eight days' march across the sands from the Delta 
requires that if an army come up that way into Syria, 
Gaza, being their first relief from the desert, should be 
in friendly hands. Hence the continual efforts of 
Egypt to hold the town. Alike under the Pharaohs 
of the sixteenth to the fourteenth centuries B. C., and 
the Ptolemies of the third and second, we find Gaza 
occupied, or bitterly fought for, by Egyptian troops. 
Alexander, invading Egypt, and Napoleon, invading 
Syria, had both to capture Gaza, whether in the inva- 
sion or the defense of the Nile valley. Gaza is the out- 
post of Africa, the door of Asia. 

Gaza never lay within the territories of early 
Israel, though Israel's authority, as in Solomon's time 
(1 Kings, 4, 24), and temporary conquests, as in 
Hezekiah's (2 Kings, 18, 8), might extend to her 
gates ; and this is to be explained by the prestige 
which Egypt, standing immediately behind, cast upon 
her. Under the Maccabees, Jewish armies carried 
fire and sword across Philistia. Ekron and Ashdod 
were taken, Ashkelon came to terms and, after Jona- 
than had burnt her suburbs, Gaza was forced to buy 
him off. It was not till 96 B. C. that Jews actually 
crossed her walls. In 62 B. C. Pompey took Gaza 
from the Jews and made it a free city. In 57 Gabi- 
nius rebuilt it, and new Gaza flourished exceedingly, 



7 6 



THE HOLY LAND. 



but the old or desert Gaza was not forgotten, prob- 
ably not even wholly abandoned, for the trunk road 
to Egypt still traveled past it. In the book of the 
Acts, in the directions given to Philip to meet the 
Ethiopian eunuch, this is accurately noted : Arise and 
go toward the south, unto the way that goeth down 
from Jerusalem to Gaza ; this is desert (Acts 8, 26). 
Most authorities connect the adjective, not with Gaza, 
but with the way ; yet no possible route from Jerusa- 
lem to Gaza could be called desert. The phrase 
desert was used of the town itself by many contempo- 
rary writers. New Gaza lay at this time upon the 
coast, and the road that the Ethiopian traveled did 
not take that direction ; it was natural to mention the 
old site, Desert, which was still a station upon the old 
road. That Philip was found immediately after at 
Ashdod suggests that the meeting and the baptism 
took place on the Philistine plain and not among the 
hills of Judaea. That w r ould mean the neighborhood 
of Gaza, and an additional reason for mentioning the 
town. 

In 635 A. D. Gaza became Moslem, and, for 
obvious reasons, gradually declined to the rank of a 
respectable station of traffic ; her military importance 
did not revive. They found her almost deserted, and 
they took no trouble to fortify her. 

36. Their chief fortress in Philistia was Ashkelon, 
which we take up next. The site 
which to-day bears the name is a 
rocky amphitheater in the low bank of the coast, and 



THE MARITIME PLAIN. 



77 



filled by Crusading ruins. Of all the five cities, Ashkelon 
was the only one which lay immediately upon the sea. 
This fact, combined with distance from the trunk road 
on which Gaza, Ashdod and Ekron stand, is perhaps 
the explanation of a certain peculiarity in Ashkelon's 
history, when compared with that of her sisters. Take 
her in her period of greatest fame. During the Cru- 
sades Ashkelon combined within herself the signifi- 
cance of all the fortresses of Philistia, and proved the 
key to southwest Palestine. To the Arabs she was the 
bride of Syria. The Egyptians held her long after the 
Crusaders were settled in Jerusalem. She was cap- 
tured by Baldwin III. in 1 1 54, retaken by Saladin in 
1 1 87 and held for five years. Here the Crusaders made 
their last stand, and it was finally demolished by Bibars 
in 1770. This touch with the sea-shore proved Ash- 
kelon's value to its ancient masters. Jeremiah con- 
nects it with the sea-shore (Jer. 47, 7). In David's 
lamentation over Saul it is not Gath and Gaza, but 
Gath and Ashkelon, which are taken as two typical 
Philistine cities (2 Sam. I, 20). And there is a sound 
of trade, a clinking of shekels, about the city's very 
name. She was always opulent and spacious. 

If Ashkelon takes her name from trade, Ashdod, 
like Gaza, takes hers from her military strength. Her 
citadel was probably the low hill, 

ASHDOD. . , r . 

beside the present village. It was 
well watered, and commanded the mouth of the most 
broad and fertile valley in Philistia. It served also as 
the half-way station on the road between Gaza and 



78 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Joppa, of which an inland branch broke off here for 
Ekron and Ramleh. The ruins of a great Kahn have 
outlived those of the fortresses from which the city 
took her name. Ashdod, also, like her sisters, had 
suffered her varying fortunes in the war with Israel, 
and, like them, suffered from her position in the way 
between Assyria and Egypt. Sargon besieged her and 
took her, as related by Isaiah (20) ; Senacherib be- 
sieged and took her, but her most wonderful siege, 
which Herodotus calls the longest in history, was that 
for twenty-two years by Psammeticus. Judas Macca- 
beus cleared Ashdod of idols in 163 B. C, and in 148 
B. C. Jonathan and Simon burnt her temple of Dagon. 
But, like Ashkelon, Ashdod was now thoroughly Greek, 
and was enfranchised by Pompey. 

Ekron, the modern Akir, won its place in the league 
by possession of an oracle of Baal- 
zebub, or Baal of the Flies, and by 
a site on the northern frontier of Philistia, in the Vale 
of Sorek, where a pass breaks through the low hills to 
Ramleh. That is to say, like so many more ancient 
cities, Ekron had the double fortune of a sanctuary with 
a market on a good trade route. Ekron was nearer 
the territory of Israel than the other Philistine towns, 
and from this certain consequences flowed. It was 
from Ekron that the ark was returned to Israel, by the 
level road up the Sorek valley to Beth-shemesh, only 
ten miles away. Amos uses a phrase of Ekron as if she 
were more within reach than her sister towns (Amos 1, 
8) ; she was ceded to the Maccabees by the Syrians ; 



THE MARITIME PLAIN. 



79 



and, after the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jews readily 
came to her, for, like Lydda, she was in a valley that 
led down from Jerusalem. To-day the Joppa-Jerusa- 
lem railroad runs past her. 

37. Now, where is Gath ? Gath, the city of giants, 
died out with the giants. That we have to-day no cer- 
tain knowledge of her site is due to the city's early and 
absolute disappearance. Amos, about 750 B. C., 
points to her recent destruction by Assyria as a warn- 
ing that Samaria must now follow. Before this time 
Gath has invariably been mentioned 
in the list of Philistine cities, and very 
frequently in the account of the wars between them and 
Israel. But, after this time, the -names of the other 
four cities are given without Gath, by Amos himself, by 
Jeremiah, by Zephaniah, and in the book of Zechariah 
(Zech. 9, 5-7) ; and Gath does not again appear in the 
Old Testament. This can only mean that Gath, both 
place and name, was totally destroyed about 750 B. C., 
and renders valueless all statements as to the city's site. 

When we turn to the various appearances of Gath 
in history, before the time of Amos, what they tell us 
about the site is this : Gath lay inland, on the borders 
of Hebrew territory, and probably in the north of Phil- 
istia. When the ark was taken from Ashdod, it was 
brought about, that is inland, again to Gath. 

Gath was the Philistine city most frequently taken 
by the Israelites, and, indeed, was considered along 
with Ekron as having originally belonged to Israel 
(1 Sam. 7, 14) ; after taking Gath, Hazaelset his face 



8o 



THE HOLY LAND. 



to go up to Jerusalem. All this implies an inland 
position, and hence nearly all writers have sought 
Gath among the hills of the Shephelah or at their junc- 
tion with the plain. The case is made more difficult 
by the fact that Gath is a generic name, meaning 
winepress, and was applied, as we might have 
expected, to several villages, usually with another 
name attached. Remarkably enough, like their great 
namesake, they too have all disappeared, and in that 
land of the vine, almost no site called after the wine- 
press has held its name. This, then — that Gath lay 
inland, on the borders of Israel, probably near to 
Ekron, and perhaps in the mouth of a pass leading up 
to Jerusalem — is all we know of the town which was 
so famous 2,500 years ago. Gath perished with its 
giant race. 




the sower. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE SHEPHELAH. 

38. Over the Philistine Plain, as you come up 
from the coast you see a sloping moorland break into 
ridges of rock, and over these a loose gathering of 
chalk and limestone hills, round, bare and featureless, 
but with an occasional bastion flung well out in front 
of them. This is the so-called Shephelah — a famous 
theater of the history of Palestine — the debatable 
ground between Israel and the Philistines, between 
the Maccabees and the Syrians, between Saladin and 
the Crusaders. 

The name Shephelah means low or lowland. The 
name may originally have been used to include the 
Maritime Plain, yet the Shephelah proper was the 
region of low hills between that plain and the high 
central range. 

How far north did the Shephelah run? From the 
sea, and across the Plain, low hills are seen buttressing 
the central range all the way along. Now the name 
Shephelah might well be applied to the whole length 
of these low hills ; but with one exception — in which 
f it is probably used for the low hills that separate Car- 
mel from Samaria — it does not appear ever to have 
extended north of the Vale of Aja- 
Ion. All the towns mentioned in 
the Old Testament as in the Shephelah are south of 
6 81 



82 



THE HOLY LAND. 



this. Roughly speaking, the Shephelah meant the 
low hills south of Ajalon, and not those north of Aja- 
lon. Now, very remarkably, this distinction corre- 
sponds with a difference of a physical kind in the rela- 
tions of these two parts of the low hills to the Central 
Range. North of Ajalon the low hills which run out 
out on Sharon are connected with the high mountains 
behind them. You ascend the latter from Sharon either 
by long sloping ridges such as that which to-day car- 
ries the carriage road from Joppa to Nablous ; or else 
you climb up terraces, such as the succession of ranges 
closely built upon one another, by which the country 
rises from Lydda to Bethel. That is, the low hills west 
of Samaria are mere slopes of the Central Range, and 
not a separate group. But south of Ajalon the low 
hills do not so hang upon the Central Range, but are 
separated from the mountains of Judaea by a series of 
valleys, both wide and narrow, which run all the way 
from Ajalon to near Beersheba ; and it is only when 
the low hills are thus flung off the Central Range 
into an independent group, separating Judaea from 
Philistia, that the name Shephelah seems to have been 
applied to them. 

39. This difference in the relation of the low hills 
to the Central Range, north and south of Ajalon, illus- 
trates two important historical phenomena : First, it 
explains some of the differences between the histories 
of Samaria and Judah. While the low hills opposite 
Samaria are really only approaches, slopes and terraces 
of access to Samaria's center, the southern low hills— 




1 




PI.AIN OF SHARON. 



8 4 



THE HOLY LAND. 



those opposite Judah — offer no furtherance at all 
towards this more isolated province ; to have con- 
quered them is not to have got footing upon it. And, 
secondly, this division between the Shephelah and 
Judaea explains why the Shephelah has so much more 
interest and importance in history than the northern 
low hills, which are not so divided from Samaria. It 
is independent, as they are not, and debatable as they 
cannot be. They are merged in Samaria. The Shep- 
helah has a history of its own, for while they cannot 
be held by themselves, it can be, and was so held at 
frequent famous periods of war and invasion. 

The division between the Shephelah and Judaea is 
ot such importance in the history of the land that it 
will be useful for us to follow it in detail. 

As we ride across the Maritime Plain from Joppa 
towards the valley of Ajalon by the main road to Jeru- 
salem, we become aware, as the road bends south, of 
getting behind low hills, which gradually shut out the 
view of the coast. 
TH]5 These are spurs of the Shephelah ; 

separating we are at the back of it, and in front 
of us are the high hills of the Cen- 
tral Range, with the wide gulf in them of the vale of 
Ajalon. Near the so-called half-way house the road 
to Jerusalem enters a steep and narrow defile, the 
Wadi Ali, which is the real entrance of the Central 
Range, for at its upper end we come out among peaks 
over 2,000 feet in height. But if, instead of entering 
this steep defile, we turn to the south, crossing a broad, 



THE SHEPHELAH. 



85 



low watershed, we shall find ourselves in the Wady el 
Ghurab, a valley running southwest, with hills to the 
east of us touching 2,000 feet, and hills to the west 
seldom above 800. The Wady el Ghurab brings us 
out upon the broad Wady es Surar, the Vale of Sorek, 
crossing which we find the mouth of the Wady en Najil, 
and ride still south along its narrow bed. Here again 
the mountains to the east of us are over 2,000 feet, 
cleft by narrow and tortuous defiles, difficult ascents to 
the Judean plateau above, while to the west the hills 
of the Shephelah seldom reach 1,000 feet, and the val- 
leys among them are broad and easy. They might 
stand, especially if we remember that they have, 
respectively, Jerusalem and Philistia behind them, for 
the narrow and the broad ways of our Lord's parable. 
From the end of the Wady en Najil the passage is im- 
mediate to the Vale of Elah, the Wady es Sunt, at 
the spot where David slew Goliath ; and from there 
the broad Wady es Sur runs south, separating by two 
or three miles the lofty and compact range of Judaea on 
the east from the lower looser hills of the Shephelah 
on the west. The Wady es Sur terminates opposite 
Hebron ; and here the dividing hollow turns south- 
west, and runs (between peaks of nearly 3,000 feet high 
to the east', and almost nothing above 1,500 to the 
west) into the Wady esh Sheria, which finds the sea 
south of Gaza, and may be regarded as the southern 
boundary of the Shephelah. Riding south along this 
wide valley one can understand why the Shephelah to 
the west was always debatable land, open equally to 



86 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Israelite and Philistine. From this definition of its 
boundaries, so necessary to our appreciation of its inde- 
pendence alike of plain and of mountain, let us turn to 
a survey of the Shephelah itself. 

The mountains look on the Shephelah, and the 
Shephelah looks on the sea, across the Philistine 
Plain. It curves round this plain from Gaza to Joppa 
like an amphitheater. But the am- 
pnitheater is cut by three or tour 
great gaps, wide valleys that come right through from 
the foot of the Judean hills to the sea. In the cross 
valleys there are streams with broad, pebbly beds; the 
soil is alluvial and red, with great grain fields. But 
on the slopes and glens of each hilly maze between 
the cross valleys, the soil is a gray white ; there are 
no streams, few springs, but many reservoirs of rain 
water. The fields straggle for want of level space, 
yet the olive groves are finer than on either the plain 
below or the range above. Inhabited villages are fre- 
quent ; the ruins of abandoned ones still more so. But 
the prevailing scenery of the region is of short, steep 
hillsides and narrow glens, with a very few great trees, 
but thickly covered by brushwood and oak scrub, crags 
of limestone breaking through, and a rough gray torrent 
bed at the bottom of each glen. In the more open 
passes of the south, the straight line of a Roman road 
dominates the brushwood, or you will see the leveled 
walls of an early Christian convent, and perhaps the 
solitary gable of a Crusaders' church. In the rocks 
there are older monuments — large wine and oil presses 



THE SHEPHELAH. 



87 



cut on level platforms above ridges that may have for- 
merly been vineyards ; caves of course abound, near 
the villages, gaping black dens for men and cattle. 
Bees murmur everywhere, larks are singing, and 
although in the maze of hills you may wander for 
hours without meeting a man, or seeing a house, you 
are seldom out of sound of the human voice, shepherds 
and ploughmen calling to their cattle and to each 
other across the glens. 

Altogether it is a rough, happy land, with its glens 
and meadows, its mingled brushwood and barley 
fields, frequently under cultivation, but for the most 
part broken and thirsty, with few wells and many 
hiding places; just the home for strong border men 
like Samson, and just the theater for that guerrilla 
warfare, varied occasionally by pitched battles, which 
Israel and Philistia, the Maccabees and the Syrians, 
Saladin and Richard waged with each other. The 
sun beats strong, but you see and feel the sea; the 
high mountains are on the east, and at night they 
breathe upon these lower ridges gentle breezes, and 
the dews are very heavy. 

The chief encounters of these foes naturally took 
place in the wide valleys, which cut right through the 
Shephelah maze. The strategic importance of these 
valleys can hardly be overrated, for they do not belong 
to the Shephelah alone. Each of them is continued 
by a defile into the very heart of Judse, not far from 
an important city, and each of them has at its other 
end, on the coast, one of the five cities of the Philis- 



88 



THE HOLY LAND. 



tines. To realize these valleys is to understand the 
wars that have been fought on the western watershed 
of Palestine from Joshua's time to Saladin's. 

40. Take the most northerly of these valleys. The 
narrow plain, across which the present road to Jeru- 
salem runs, brings you up from Lydda to opposite the 
high valley of Ajalon. The valley of Ajalon, which 
vau ^y of i s really part of the Shephelah, is a 
AjAi/ON. broad, fertile plain, gently sloping 

up to the foot of the Central Range, the steep wall of 
which seems to forbid further passage. But three 
gorges break through, and, with sloping ridges between 
them, run up past the two Bethhorons on the plateau 
at Gibeon, a few flat miles north of Jerusalem. This 
has always been the easiest passage from the coast to 
the capital of Judaea, the most natural channel for the 
overflow of Israel westwards. In the first settlement 
of the land it was down Ajalon that 
Dan pushed and touched for a time 
the sea; after the exile it was down Ajalon that the 
returned Jews cautiously felt their way, and fixed their 
westmost colonies at its mouth on the edge of the 
plain. Throughout history we see hosts swarming up 
this avenue, or sw r ept down it in flight. At the high 
head of it, invading Israel first emerged from the 
Jordan Valley, and looked over the Shephelah toward 
the great sea. Joshua drove the Canaanites down to 
Makkedah in the Shephelah on that day when such 
long work had to be done that he bade the sun stand 
still for its accomplishment; down Ajalon the early 



THE SHEPHELAH. 



8 9 



men of Ephraim and Benjamin raided the Philistines; 
up Ajalon the Philistines swarmed to the very heart of 
Israel's territory at Michmash, disarmed the Israelites, 
and forced them to come down the vale to get their 
tools sharpened, so that the mouth of the vale was 
called the Valley of the Smiths even till after the exile ; 
down Ajalon Saul and Jonathan beat the Philistines 
from Michmash, and by the same way, soon after his 
accession, King David smote the Philistines, who had 
come up about Jerusalem, either by this route or by 
the gorge leading from the Vale of Sorek ; smote them 
from Gibeon, until thou come to Gezer, that looks 
right up Ajalon. The Vale of Ajalon was also overrun 
by the Egyptian invasions of Palestine. Egypt long 
held Gezer at the mouth of it, and Shishak's cam- 
paign included the capture of Beth-horon, Ajalon, 
Makkedah and Jehudah, near Joppa. 

But it was in the time of the Maccabean wars, and 
in the time of the Crusades, that this part of the 
Shephelah was most famously contested. We have 
already seen that the Plain of Ajalon, with its mouth 



fore, the natural entrance into Judea for the Syrian 
armies who came south by the coast ; the first camps, 
both Jewish and Syrian, were pitched about Emmaus, 
not far off the present highroad to Jerusalem. The 
battles rolled — for the battles in the Shephelah were 
always rolling battles — between Beth-horon and Gezer. 



THB WARS 
OF THE 
MACCAB^S. 



turned slightly northwards, lay open 
to the roads down the Maritime 
Plain from Carmel. It was, there- 



go 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Jonathan swept down to Joppa and won it. But the 
tide sometimes turned, and the Syrians, mastering the 
Shephelah fortresses, swept up Ajalon to the walls of 
Jerusalem. 

Now up and down this great channel, thirteen cen- 
turies later, the fortune of war ebbed and flowed in an 
almost precisely similar fashion. Like the Syrians — and 
indeed from the same center of Antioch — the Cru- 
saders took their way to Jerusalem by Tyre, Accho 
and Joppa, and there turned up 
the crusades, trough the Shephelah and the Vale 
of Ajalon. The first Crusaders found no opposition ; 
two days sufficed for their march from Ramleb, by 
Beth-horon, to the Holy City. Through the Third 
Crusade, however, Saladin firmly held the Central 
Range, and though parties of Christians swept up 
within sight of Jerusalem, their camps never advanced 
beyond Ajalon. But all the Shephelah rang with the 
exploits of Richard. Fighting his way from Carmel 
along the foot of the low hills, with an enemy per- 
petually assailing his flank, Richard established him- 
self at Joppa, opposite the mouth of Ajalon. Thence 
he pushed gradually inland, planting forts and castles 
till he reached the foot of the Central Range. But 
Richard did not confine his tactics to the Vale of 
Ajalon. Like the Syrians, when he found this blocked, 
he turned southwards, and made a diversion upon the 
Judean table land, up one of the parallel valleys of 
the Shephelah, and then, when that failed, returned 
suddenly to Ajalon. Ail this cost him from August, 



THE SHEPHELAH. 9 I 

1 191, to June, 1 192. He was then within twelve 
miles of Jerusalem as the crow flies, and on a raid he 
actually saw the secluded city, but he retired. His 
funds were exhausted, and his followers quarrelsome. 
He feared, too, the summer drought of Jerusalem, 
which had compelled Cestius Gallus to withdraw in 
the moment of victory. But, above all, Richard's 
retreat from the foot of the Central Range illustrates 
what I have already emphasized, that to have taken the 
Shephelah was really to be no nearer Judaea. The 
baffled Crusaders fell back to the coast. Saladin moved 
after them and took Joppa. And though Richard 
relieved the latter, and the coast remained with the 
Crusaders for the next seventy years, the Shephelah, 
with its European castles and cloisters, passed wholly 
from Christian possession. 

We have won a much more vivid imagination 
of the far-off campaigns of Joshua and David by 
following the marches of Judas Maccabeus, and the 
advance and retreat of Richard the Lion-hearted, the 
last especially. The natural lines which all these 
armies had to follow, remained throughout the cen- 
turies the same. The same were the difficulties of 
climate, forage and locomotion. So that the best 
commentaries on many of the chapters of the Old 
Testament, are the Books of the Maccabees, the 
Annals of Josephus, and the Chronicles of the Cru- 
sades. History never repeats itself without explain- 
ing its past. 

41. One point in the Northern Shephelah, round 



92 



THE HOLY LAND. 



which these tides of war have swept, deserves special 
notice — Gezer. It is one of the few 
remarkable bastions which the Shep- 
helah flings out to the west — on a ridge running towards 
Ramleh, the most prominent object in view of the 
traveler from Joppa towards Jerusalem. It is high 
and isolated, but fertile and well watered, a very strong 
post, and a striking landmark. Its name occurs in the 
Egyptian correspondence of the fourteenth century 
B. C. , where it is described as being taken from the 
Egyptian vassals by the tribes whose invasion so agi- 
tates that correspondence. The Israelites drave not 
out the Canaanites who dwelt at Gezer (Josh. 16, 3-10); 
and in the hands of these it remained till its conquest 
* by Egypt, when Pharaoh gave it, with his daughter, to 
Solomon, and Solomon rebuilt it. Judas Maccabeus 
was strategist enough to gird himself early to the cap- 
ture of Gezer, and Simon fortified it to cover the way 
to the harbor of Joppa, and caused John, his son, the 
captain of the*host, to dwell there. It was virtually, 
therefore, the key of Judaea at a time when Judaea's 
foes came down the coast from the north ; and, with 
Joppa, it formed part of the Syrian demands upon the 
Jews. The site of Gezer was discovered by Clermont 
Ganneau at Tell Jezer, four miles west of Emmaus, in 
1874.. Here he found one of the old stones which 
marked its suburbs as a Levitical city, with the name 
carved upon it. He has also lately indentified it with 
the Mont Gisart of the Crusades. Mont Gisart was a 
castle with an abbev. It was the scene, on November 



THE SHEPHELAH. 



93 



24, 1 174, of a victory won by a small army from Jeru- 
salem under the boy-king, the leper Baldwin IV., 
against a very much larger army under Saladin him- 
self, and, in 1 192, Saladin encamped upon it during his 
negotiations for a truce with Richard. 

Shade of King Horam, what hosts of men have 
fallen round that citadel of yours ! On what camps 
and columns has it looked down through the centuries, 
since first you saw the strange Hebrews burst with the 
sunrise across the hills, and chase your countrymen 
down Ajalon — that day when the victors felt the very 
sun conspiring with them to achieve the unexampled 
length of battle. Within sight of every Egyptian and 
Assyrian invasion of the land, Gezer has also seen 
Alexander pass by, and the legions of Rome in unusual 
flight, and the armies of the Cross struggle, wave and 
give way, and Napoleon come and go. If all could 
rise who have fallen around its base — Ethiopians, He- 
brews, Assyrians, Arabs, Turcomans, Greeks, Romans, 
Celts, Saxons, Mongols — what a rehearsal of the Judg- 
ment Day it would be ! Few of the travelers who now 
rush across the plain realize that the first conspicuous 
hill they pass in Palestine is also one of the most 
thickly haunted — even in that narrow land into which 
history has so crowded itself. But upon the ridge of 
Gezer no sign of all this now remains, except in the 
name Tel Jezer, and in a sweet hollow to the north, 
beside a fountain, where lie the scattered Christian 
stones of Deir Warda, the Convent of the Rose. Up 
none of the other valleys of the Shephelah has history 



94 



THE HOLY LAND. 



surged as up and down Ajalon and past Gezer, for 
none are so open to the north, nor present so easy a 
passage to Jerusalem. 

42. The next Shephelah valley, however, the 
Wady es Surar, or Vale of Sorek, has an importance 
vai^ey of of its own, and, remarkably enough, 
sorek. j s £ k e the future road to Jerusa- 

lem. The new railroad from Joppa, instead of being 
carried up Ajalon, turns south at Ramleh by the pass 
through the low sand hills to Ekron, and thence runs 
up the Wady es Surar. and its continuing defile through 
the Judasan range on to that plain southeast of 
Jerusalem, which probably represents the ancient 
Vale of Rephaim. It is the way the Philistines used 
to come up in the days of the Judges and of David ; 
there is no shorter road into Judaea from Ekron and 
Ashdod. 

Just before the Wady es Surar approaches the 
Judasan Range, its width is increased by the entrance 
of the Wady Ghurab from the northwest, and by the 
- Wady en Najil from the south. A great basin is thus 
formed with the low hill of Artuf, and its village in 
^^■^ a \tt\ the center. Sura, the ancient 

^ORAH AND ' 

b^thsh^m- Zorah, lies on the slope to the 
north; Ain Shems, in all proba- 
bility Bethshemesh, lies on the southern slope opposite 
Zorah. When you see this basin, you at once per- 
ceive its importance. Fertile and well-watered — a 
broad brook runs through it, with tributary stream- 
lets — it lies immediately under the Judaean range, 



THE SHEPHELAH. 



95 



and at the head of a valley passing down to Philistia, 
while at right angles to this it is crossed by the great 
line of trench which separates the Shephelah from 
Judaea. Roads diverge from it in all directions. 
Two ascend the Judaean plateau by narrow defiles 
from the Wady en Najil ; another and a greater defile, 
still under the name Wady es Surar, runs up east to 
the plateau next Jerusalem, and others northeast into 
the rough hills. The road from Beit Jibrin comes 
down the Wady en Najil, and continues by a broad 
and easy pass to Amwas and the Vale of Ajalon. As 
a center, then, between the southern and northern 
valleys of the Shephelah, and between Judaea and 
Philistia, this basin was sure to become important. It 
was generally held by Israel, who could pour down 
upon it by five or six different defiles. 

On the northern bank of this basin the homeless 
tribe of Dan found a temporary settlement. The 
thb tribe territory which the Book of Joshua 
of dan. assigns to Dan lies down the two 

parallel valleys that lead through the Shephelah to 
the sea, Ajalon and Sorek ; and the Song of Deborah 
seems to imply they reached the coast — "why did 
Dan abide in ships ? " But either Deborah speaks in 
scorn of futile ambitions westward, which were 
stirred in Dan by the sight of the sea from the 
Shephelah, and Dan never reached the sea at all, or 
else the tribe had been driven back from the coast, 
for now they lay poised on the broad pass between 
their designated valleys, retaining only two of their 



9 6 



THE HOLY LAND. 



proper towns, Zorah and Eshtaol. It was a position 
close under the eaves of Israel's mountain home, yet 
open to attacks from the plain. They found it so 
intolerable that they moved north, even to the sources 
of the Jordan, but not without stamping their name 
on the place they left in a form which showed how 
temporary their hold on it had been. It was called 
the Camp of Dan. Here, in Zorah, either before or 
after the migration, their great tribal hero Samson 
was born. 

45. It is as fair a nursery for boyhood as you will 
find in all the land — a hillside facing south against the 
sunshine, with grain, grass and olives, scattered bould- 
ers and winter brooks — the broad 

samsox. 

valley below, with the pebbly stream 
and screens of oleanders, the southwest wind from the 
sea blowing over all. There the child Samson grew 
up, and the Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the 
Lord began to move him in the Camp of Dan between 
Zorah and Eshtaol. Across the valley of Sorek, in 
full view, is Bethshemesh, House and Well of the 
Sun, with which name it is so natural to connect his 
own, Shimson, Sun-like. Over the low hills beyond is 
Timnah, where he found his first love and killed the 
lion. Beyond is the Philistine Plain, with its miles 
upon miles of corn, which, if as closely sown then as 
now, would require scarce three, let alone three hundred, 
foxes, with torches on their tails, to set it all afire. 
The Philistine cities are but a day's march away by 
easy roads. And so from these country hills to yon- 



THE SHEPHELAH. 



97 



der plains and the highway of the great world — from 
the pure home and the mother who talked with angels, 
to the heathen cities, their harlots and their prisons — 
we see at one sweep of the eye all the course in which 
this uncurbed strength, at first tumbling and sporting 
with laughter like one of its native brooks, like them 
also ran to the flats and the mud, and, being darkened 
and befouled, was used by men to turn their mills. 

The theory that the story of Samson is a mere sun- 
myth, edited for the sacred record by an orthodox Jew, 
has never received acceptance with the leading critics, 
who have all been convinced that, though containing 
elements of popular legend, its hero was an actual per- 
sonage. Those who study the story of Samson along 
with its geography must feel that the story has at least 
a basis of reality. Unlike the exploits of the personi- 
fication of Solar fire in Aryan and Semitic mytholo- 
gies, those of Samson are confined to a very limited 
region. The attempts to interpret them as phases or 
influences of the sun, or to force them into a cycle, 
like the labors of Hercules, have broken down. To 
me it seems just as easy and just as futile to read the 
story of this turbulent strength as the myth of a mount- 
ain stream, at first exuberant and sporting with its 
powers, but when it has left its native hills, mastered 
and darkened by men, and yet afterwards bursting its 
confinement and taking its revenge upon them. For 
it is rivers, and not sunbeams, that work mills and 
overthrow temples. But the idea of finding any nature- 
myth in such a story is far-fetched, 
7 



9 8 



THE HOLY LAND. 



The head of the Vale of Sorek has usually been 
regarded as the scene of the battle in which the Philis- 
the return tines took the ark. The place was 

of the ark. convenient both to Israel and to Phil- 
istia, and it has been argued that, in afterwards bring- 
ing the ark back to Bethshemesh, the Philistines were 
seeking to make their atonement exact by restoring their 
booty at the spot where they had captured it, and that- 
the stone on which they rested the ark may have been 
the Ebenezer, or Stone of Help, near which they had 
defeated the Israelites, and near which the Israelites 
are said to have defeated them afterwards. 

The course of the ark's return can be pointed out 
quite exactly. It was up the broad Vale of Sorek that 
the untended kine of Beth-shemesh dragged the cart 
behind them with the ark upon it, lowing as they 
went, and turned not aside to the right or to the left, 
and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto 
the borders of Beth-shemesh. And Beth-shemesh, 
that is to say all the villagers, as is the custom 
at harvest time, were in the valley — the village itself 
lay high up on the valley's southern bank — reaping the 
wheat harvest, and they lifted up their eyes and saw 
the ark, and came rejoicing to meet it. And they 
clave the wood of the cart, and the kine they offered 
as a burnt offering to Jehovah, certainly upon the 
stone. And the great stone whereon they set down 
the ark of Jehovah, is a witness thereof in the field 
of Joshua the Bethshemite. 

In the Shephelah, however, the ark was not to 



THE SHEPHELAH. 



99 



remain. The story continues that some of the care- 
less harvesters, who had ran to meet the ark, treated 
it too familiarly — gazed at it — and Jehovah smote of 
kirjath:- them three score and ten men. The 

jearim. plague which the ark had brought 

upon Philistia clung about it still. As stricken Ash- 
dod has passed it on to Gath, Gath to Ekron, and 
Ekron to Beth-shemesh, so Beth-shemesh now made 
haste to deposit it upon Jehovah's own territory of 
the hills ; "to whom shall he go up from us " ? The 
nearest hill-town was Kirjath Jearim, the Town of the 
Woods. This must have lain somewhere about Mount 
Jearim, the rugged, wooded highlands, which look down 
upon the basin of Sorek from the north of the great 
defile. But the exact site is not known with certainty. 
Some think it was the present Kuriet Enab, to the 
north of Mount Jearim ; and others Khurbet Erma 
to the south, near the south of the great defile. 
Each of these, it is claimed, echoes the ancient 
name. Each suits the description of the Kirjath 
Jearim in the Old Testament. For the story of the 
ark, Khurbet Erma has the advantage, lying close 
to Beth-shemesh, and yet in the hill-country. Leav- 
ing the question of the exact site open, we must be 
satisfied with the knowledge that Kirjath Jearim 
lay on the western border of Benjamin ; once the 
ark was set there, it was off the debatable ground 
of the Shephelah, and within Israel's proper territory. 
Here in the field of the woods it rested till David 
brought it up to Jerusalem, and that was probably 



IOO 



THE HOLY LAND. 



why Kirjath Jearim was also called Kirjath Baal, or 
Baal of Judah, for in those times Baal was not a 
term of reproach, but the title even of Jehovah as 
Lord and Preserver of his people's land. 

44. The third valley which cuts the Shephelah is 
the Wady es Sunt, which, when it gets back of the low 
vatoyof hills, turns south into the Wady es 

ei,a:b:. s ur> the great trench between the 

Shephelah and Judah. Near the turning the narrow 
Wady el Jindy curves off to the northwest to the 
neighborhood of Bethlehem. The Wady es Sunt is 
probably the Vale of Elah. Its entrance from the Phil- 
istine Plain is commanded by the famous Tel-es-Safiyeh, 
the Blanchegarde of the Crusaders, whose high white 
front looks west across the plain twelve miles to Ash- 
dod. Blanchegarde must always have been a formida- 
ble position, and it is simply inability to assign to the site 
any other biblical name that makes the case so strong 
for its having been the site of Gath. Blanchegarde is 
twenty-three miles from Jerusalem, but the way up is 
most difficult after you leave the Wady es Sunt. It is 
a remarkable fact that when Richard decided to besiege 
Jerusalem, and had already marched from Ashkelon to 
Blanchegarde on his way, instead of then pursuing the 
Wady es Sunt and its narrow continuation to Bethle- 
hem, he preferred to turn north two days' march 
across the Shephelah hills, with his flank to the enemy, 
and to attack his goal up the Valley of Ajalon. 

An hour's ride from Tel es Safiyeh up the winding 
Vale of Elah brings us through the Shephelah to 



THE SHEPHELAH. 



IOT 



where the Wady es Sur turns south towards Hebron, 
and the narrow Wady el Jindy strikes up towards Beth- 
david and lehem. At the junction of the three 
goliath. there is a level plain, a quarter of 
a mile broad, cut by two brooks, which combine to 
form the stream down the Wady es Sunt. This plain 
is probably the scene of David's encounter with Goli- 
ath ; for to the south of it, on the low hills that bound 
the Wady es Sunt in that direction, is the name Shu- 
weikeh, probably the Shocoh, on which the Philistines 
rested their rear and faced the Israelites across the 
valley. The ravine which separated them has been 
recognized in the deep trench which the combined 
streams have cut through the level land, and on the 
other side there is the Wady el Jindy, a natural road 
for the Israelites to have come down from the hills. 
It is the very battlefield for these ancient foes ; Israel 
in one of the gateways to her mountain land ; the 
Philistines on the low hills they so often overran; and 
between them the great valley that divides Judah from 
the Shephelah. Shocoh is a strong position isolated 
from the rest of the ridge, and it keeps open the line 
of retreat down the valley. Saul's army was probably 
not immediately opposite, but a little way up, on the 
slopes of the incoming Wady el Jindy, and so placed 
that the Philistines, in attacking it, must cross, not 
only the level land and the main stream, but one of 
the two other streams as well, and must also climb the 
slopes for some distance. Both positions were thus 
very strong, and this fact perhaps explains the long 



102 



THE HOLY LAND. 



hesitation of the armies in face of each other, even 
though the Philistines had the advantage of Goliath. 
The Israelites' position certainly looks the stronger. It 
is interesting, too, that from its rear goes the narrow 
pass right up to the interior of the land near Bethle- 
hem ; so that the shepherd boy, whom the story 
represents as being sent by his father for news of the 
battle, would have almost twelve miles to cover 
between his father's house and the camp. 

If you ride southwards from the battlefield up the 
Wady es Sur, you come in about two hours to a wide 
valley running into the Shephelah on the right. On 
the south side of this there is a steep hill, with a well 
at the foot of it, and at the toy the shrine of a Moham- 
medan saint. They call it the hill 

ADUI/I/AM. 

of Aid-el-ma in which it is possible 
to hear Adullam, and its position suits all that we are 
told about David's stronghold. It stands well off the 
Central Range, and is very defensible. There is 
water in the valley, and near the top some large caves, 
partly artificial. If we can dismiss the idea that all 
of David's four hundred men got into the cave of Adul- 
lam — a pure fancy, for which the false tradition, that 
the enormous cave of Khareitun near Bethlehem is 
Adullam, is responsible — we shall admit that this hill 
was just such a stronghold as David is said to have 
chosen. It looks over to Judah, and down the Wady 
es Sunt ; it covers two high-roads into the former, 
and Bethlehem, from which David's three mighty men 
carried the water he sighed for, is, as the crow flies, 



THE SHEPHELAH. 



103 



not twelve miles away. The site is, therefore, entirely 
suitable ; and yet we cannot say that there is enough 
resemblance in the modern name to place it beyond 
doubt as Adullam. 

45. The fourth of the valleys that cut the Shep- 
helah is that now named the Wady el Afranj, which 
runs from opposite Hebron northwest to Ashdod and 
the coast. It is important as containing the real cap- 
ital of the Shephelah, the present Beit-Jibrin. This 
site has not been identified with any 

BEIT-JIBRIN. . _ i-i 

Old Testament name, but, like so 
many other places in Palestine, its importance is illus- 
trated by its use during Roman times, and especially 
during the Crusades. It was the center of the district, 
the half-way house between Jerusalem and Gaza, 
Hebron and Lydda. The Romans built roads from 
it in all directions. Many times as our horses hoofs 
strike these pavements we are reminded of what the 
Roman empire was, and how it grasped the world. 
But by Beit-Jibrin this feeling grows intense, for the 
Roman buildings there are mostly the work of the 
same emperor who built the Roman roads in England. 
The Crusaders came to Beit-Jibrin and thought it was 
Beersheba. They built a citadel and made it their 
base against Ashkelon. The monuments they have 
left are some ruins of a beautiful Gothic church, some 
thick fortifications, and their name in the Wady el 
Afranj, or Valley of the Franks. 

The last of the valleys through the Shephelah is 
Wady el Hesy, or Wady el Ji-zair, running from a 



1 64 



THE HOLY LAND. 



point about six miles southwest of Hebron to the sea, 
between Gaza and Ashkelon. This valley also has its 
important sites ; for Lachish, is 

LACHISH. 

proved to have been at Tell el Hesy, 
a mound in the bed of the valley, and Eglon, the 
present Ajlan, is not far off. These two were very 
ancient Amorite fortresses. Eglon disappeared from 
history at an early period, but Lachish endured, 
always fulfilling the same function, time after time 
suffering the same fate. Her valley is the first in tne 
Shephelah which the roads from Egyt strike, and Gaza 
stands at its lower end. Lachisch has therefore 
throughout history played second to Gaza, now an 
outpost to Egypt and now a frontier fortress of Syria. 
In the Tell-el-Amarna letters we read of her in Egyp- 
tian hands. She is the farthest city Egyptwards 
which Rehoboam fortifies (2 Chron. 11, 9). Senna- 
cherib must take her before he invades Egypt (2 Kings 
18, 14-17). During the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, 
her successor at Umm Lakis is held by the Order of 
the Hospitallers for the same strategical reasons. 
Through all these ages, then, Lachish was an out- 
post, and, as we should now say, a custom house 
between Judaea and Egypt. War and commerce both 
swept past her. This enables us to understand the 
word of the Prophet Micah about her. In his day, 
Judah's sin was to lean on Egypt, to accept Egyptian 
subsidies of horses and chariots. So Micah mocks 
Lachish, playing upon the similarity of her name to 
that for a horse : Yoke the wagon to the steed, O 



I06 THE HOLY LAND. 

inhabitress of Lachish ; beginning of sin is she to the 
daughter of Zion, for in thee are found the transgres- 
sions of Israel (Micah I, 13). 

These cuts are a facsimile of a letter which was 
found by Mr. Bliss excavating the site of Lachish 




{Tell el Hesy) for the Palestine Exploration Fund in 
1892. 

The main interest in this short letter lies in the 
notice of Zimridi, who was chief of Lachish, showing 
that the site where the letter was found is Lachish. 
The following appears to be the translation: 



THE SHEPHELAH. 



107 



' ' Is it not sent (as a message) to the great chief of 
the house of our fathers ? Lo ! truly thou knowest 
that they have fortified the city of A tint. And O 
Zimridi to the feet of him who is established as the 




BACK. 



chieftain behold humbly I bow. Supporter of cities 
behold ! O Saviour of the people I have rent (my 
garments) yea . . . entreaties . . . for defenders 
of (?). And three years or four the foe (or dog) has 
been resting who desires my country. Now behold 
they have entered the land to lay waste. The city of 
Sumhi (or Sunia) which we inhabit he is surrounding: 



io8 



THE HOLY LAND. 



he has gathered in order to besiege; and as far as this 
are going thirteen sections of our (tribe ?). Strong 
(is he) who has come down. He lays waste. He has 
gone out with secret feet 1 .... I send and they 
have (arrayed ?) the land of the race of my foe: may 
his land perish. " 

It will be seen from the facsimile of the tablet that 
the signs are irregularly written, and many of them 
much worn, so that the translation is difficult, and 
uncertain in parts of the text. 

This letter comes apparently from the low hills 
southeast of Lachish. Atim must be the Etam of 
the south of Judah (i Chron. iv. 32), which has been 
placed at the ruin of ' Aitun ; and Samhi (or as it 
may be otherwise rendered Sauia) is the large ruin of 
Sam ah, on the higher hills, which is five miles to the 
south of Etam. The letter is of great interest. The 
marauders, as in other cases, come from the Hebron 
Hills. It also shows us that the communication by 
tablets in cuneiform script was not only usual in writ- 
ing to Egypt, but in the internal correspondence of 
the country. The Phoenician alphabet had not as 
yet come into use, but the ruins of Palestine, no doubt, 
still contain other tablets of this age or of earlier 
times. The letter, though not as important in some 
ways as the Moabite stone and Siloam text, is one of 
the most valuable discoveries ever made in Palestine. 

There is one great campaign in the Shephelah 
which we have not discussed in connection with any 
1 Marched stealthily. 



THE SHEPHELAH. 



IO9 



of the main routes, because the details of it are 
obscure — Sennacherib's invasion of Syria in 701 B. C. 

But the general course, as told in 

SENNACHERIB. . . . _z 

the Assyrian annals and m the Bible, 
becomes plain in the light of the geography we 
have been studying. Sennacherib, coming down the 
coast, like the Syrians and Crusaders, like them also con- 
quered first the towns about Joppa. Then he defeated 
an Egyptian army before Alteku, somewhere near 
Ekron, on the Philistian Plain, and took Ekron and 
Timnah. With Egypt beaten back, and the northern 
Shephelah mastered, his way was now open into 
Judah, the invasion of which and the investment of 
Jerusalem accordingly appear next in the list of Sen- 
nacherib's triumphs. These must have been effected 
by a detachment of the Assyrian army, for Sennach- 
erib himself is next heard of in the southern Shephelah, 
besieging Lachish and Libnah, no doubt with the 
view of securing his way to Egypt. At Lachish he 
received the tribute of Hezekiah, who thus hoped to 
purchase the relief of the still inviolate Jerusalem; 
but, in spite of the tribute, he sent to Hezekiah from 
Lachish and Libnah two peremptory demands for her 
surrender. Then suddenly, in the moment of Zion's 
despair, the Assyrian army was smitten, not, as we 
usually imagine, round the walls of Jerusalem, for the 
Bible no where implies this, but under Sennacherib 
himself in the main camp and headquarters. Either 
these were still in the southern Shephelah, for Sen- 
nacherib's own annals do not carry him south of 



I IO 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Lachish, and Egypt often sent her plagues up this 
way to Palestine, or, if we may believe Herodotus, 
they had crossed the desert to Pelusium, and were 
overtaken in that pestiferous region, which has 
destroyed so many armies. 




ARAB TENT. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE CENTRAL RANGE. 

46. The Central Range is formed by the southern 
portion of Mount Lebanon. A long deep formation 
of limestone extends all the way 
south to a line of cliffs opposite the 
gulf and canal of Suez. In Numbers 34, 7-8, Mount 
Hor is mentioned as the northern boundary. This 
must have been a part of the Lebanon range, perhaps 
Mount Sunnin, northeast of Beyrout. It may have 
been called so as the mountain of the Phoenicians, 
whose name among the early Egyptians was Khar, or 
Har. Sunnin (8, 500 feet) is the highest point of the 
Lebanon. Farther south the mountains occupying 
the district of Upper Galilee have an average height of 
2,800. The Jebel Jermuk, 3,934 feet, is the highest 
point, and from it most of the ranges radiate ; it lies 
twelve miles west of the Jordan at a point in its course 
half way between the Lake Huleh and the Sea of Gali- 
lee. South of the Jebel Jermuk the hills average half 
its height, and when due west of the Sea of Galilee we 
are on a plateau but 900 feet above sea-level. 

The mountain range is interrupted by the Plain of 
Esdraelon (or Jezreel) which runs from the Jordan val- 
pi^ain of l e Y i n a northwesterly direction to 

bsdra^on. the Bay of Accho. It is about nine 
miles broad at the center. Its northern boundary at 

in 



I 12 



THE HOLY LAND. 



the east is the Jebel Duhy range — the hill Moreh of 
Judges 7, i, called also the Little Hermon range — 
which rises abruptly from the Jordan valley, and 
encloses the southwest corner of the Sea of Galilee. 
About the middle of the country the mountains retire 
suddenly northward, forming a bay, into which the 
plain extends and from which rises the conical mount- 
ain Tabor, 1,850 feet. At the west the northern 
boundary of the plain is formed by the Nazareth range, 
which rises from it in precipitous steps, but slopes back 
gently to the north and west. The southern boundary 
of the plain is formed in the east by the mountains of 
Gilboa, which bend out sickle- shaped from the hills of 
Samaria, contracting the eastern end of the plain into 
the Wady Jalud. The long stretch of Carmel, reach- 
ing northwestward to the sea, forms the remainder of 
its southern boundary. The appearance of the plain 
suggests that here the Lebanon range has been broken 
and bent away westwards, the solitary fragment of 
Tabor standing as a memorial of the disaster. The 
watershed of the plain is about twenty-five miles from 
the sea. The eastern portion is drained by the Jalud, 
which passes Bethshan and empties into the Jordan. 
By the Wady Jalud the great highway ran between the 
east and the west, and opposite it the ford of Jordan 
was called pre-eminently Abarah, that is, the Ford. 
The western part of the plain is drained by the Kishon, 
which springs up about the roots of Tabor and falls 
into the Bay of Accho. 

Immediately south of the plain the country again 



THE CENTRAL RANGE. 



113 



rises into mountain heights. The highest point of 
Gilboa is 1,698 feet, and of Carmel 1,742 feet; the 
west point of the latter, where it thrusts itself into the 
sea, being 500 feet. The hill of Samaria, fifteen miles 
south of the plain, stands out solitarily amid the 
the central mountain ranges round it. Six miles 

range. further south rises Ebal, 3,076 feet, 

which is divided by the Vale of Shechem from Gerizim 
2,848 feet. After this the mountain watershed of the 
land becomes more consolidated, and maintains a 
greater as well as a steadier altitude. About twenty 
miles south of Ebal, Tell Azur (Baal Hazor, 2 Sam. 13, 
23), raises its barren gray summit 3,318 feet. Five 
miles to the north of it lies Shiloh, and as far to the 
south lies Bethel. From Bethel a journey of ten miles 
brings us to Jerusalem, 2, 500 feet above the sea level. 
The whole distance between Samaria and Jerusalem, 
the capitals of the northern and southern kingdoms, as 
the crow flies, is not over thirty-five miles. Five 
miles south of Jerusalem, Ras Sherifeh rises above 
Bethlehem 3,260 feet, and immediately north of 
Hebron, which is twenty miles from Jerusalem, the 
height of 3,500 feet is attained. Beyond Hebron the 
height falls again to about the level of Jerusalem, and 
gradually sinks down toward the southern desert 
plateau. By the parting of the hills as they descend, 
a great valley is formed, which widens as it goes 
southwards to Beersheba, thirty miles from Hebron. 
The drainage of the southern hills feeds this valley 
with an abundant supply of water, which can easily 

8 



H4 



THE HOLY LAND. 



be obtained by sinking wells in it. This district is 
often mentioned in scripture as the Negeb, or South- 
land (Gen. 13, 3 ; Josh. 11, 16). 

47. From the watershed which we have just 
traced, the valleys run westwards to the Mediterra- 
nean and eastwards to the Jordan. The more 
important on the west are Ajalon, Sorek and Elah. 
On the east are the Wady Farah, which carries the 
waters of Shechem and of Enon to the Jordan ; the 
eastern valley of Achor, which runs from 

va^bys. Ai to Jericho ; the steep pass from 
Bethany down to Jericho, and the Wady Malaki, in 
which David hid from Saul. The hills of Judah are 
much steeper on the east than on the west. They 
descend suddenly into the Dead Sea, forming what is 
known as the Jeshimon or the Wilderness of Judaea. 
It is a waste and isolate region, the people who 
now sparsely occupy it having a dialect of their own. 
Its isolation is caused by its character, not by its 
distance from the capital; for from its northern part 
the snowy dome of Hermon may be seen — another 
forcible reminder of the smallness of the Holy Land. 

Of this backbone of Syria the part between 
Esdraelon and the Negeb is historically the most 
famous. Those ninety miles of narrow highland from 
Jezreel to Beersheba were the chief theater of the 
history of Israel. As you look from the sea, they 
form a persistent mountain wall of nearly uniform 
level, rising clear and blue above the low hills which 
buttress it to the west. The one sign of a pass across 



THE CENTRAL RANGE. 



115 



it is the cleft between Ebal and Gerizim, in which 
Shechem, the natural capital of these highlands, lies. 

But uniform as that persistent range appears from 
the coast, almost the first thing which you remember 
as you look at it, is the prolonged political and relig- 
ious division of which it was capable — first into the 
kingdoms of Northern Israel and Judah, and then 
into the provinces of Samaria and Judaea. Those 
ninety narrow miles sustained the arch-schism of his- 
tory. Where did the line of this schism run ? Did it 
correspond to any natural division in the range itself ? 

A closer observation shows that there was a natural 
boundary between northern and southern Israel. 

48. The bulk of Samaria consists of scattered 
mountain groups, while Judaea is a table-land ; again, 
while the Samarian mountains descend continuously 
through the low hills of the Maritime Plain, the hill- 
country of Judaea stands aloof from the Shephelah 
natural range, with a well-defined valley 

boundary between. But now these two phys- 
ical differences do not coincide ; the 
table land of Judaea runs further north than its isola- 
tion from the low hills extends. Consequently we 
have two different frontiers on the north. If we take 
the difference between the relations of the two prov- 
inces to the Maritime Plain, the natural boundary 
will be the Vale of Ajalon, which penetrates the Cen- 
tral Range, and a line from it across the water-shed to 
the Wady Suweinit, the deep gorge of Michmash, which 
will continue the boundary to the Jordan at Jericho. 



n6 



THE HOLY LAND. 



But if we take the distinction between the scattered 
hills and the table-land, then the natural boundary 
trom the coast eastwards to the Jordan will be the 
river Aujeh and a line across the water-shed to the 
Wady Samieh, and so down this to the Jordan eight 
miles above Jericho. It begins and ends with streams 
of the same name — Aujeh, the crooked. While the 
western stream reaches the sea a little above Joppa, 
the eastern falls into the Jordan a little above Jericho. 
Still further north there is a third and even more evi- 
dent border, the Wady Ishar. Thus we have not one, 
but three possible frontiers across this range ; south of 
Bethel, the line from the head of Ajalon to the gorge 
of Michmash ; north of Bethel, the change from table 
land to valley, with deep wadies running both to Jor- 
dan and to the coast ; and more northerly still, the 
Wady Ishar. None of these is by any means a scien- 
tific frontier, and their ambiguity is reflected in the 
fortunes of the political border. The political border 
oscillated between these natural borders. 

Take the most southerly — the line up the Wady 
Suweinit, across the plateau south of Bethel and down 
vai,i,by of Ajalon. This was a real pass across 

ajalon. , the range. Not only did Israel by 
it first come up from the Jordan on to the table-land, 
and by it sweep down towards the sea, but it was, in 
all ages, a regular route for trade. Its use, and the 
close connection into wdiich it brought the Maritime 
Plain with the Jordan valley, could not be more clearly 
proved than by the presence of the name Dagon at its 



THE CENTRAL RANGE. 



117 



eastern as well as its western end. A little way north 
of Jericho there was, down to the time of the Macca- 
bees, a fortress called by the name of the Philistine god. 
In Saul's days the Philistines were naturally anxious 
to hold this route, and, invading Israel by Ephraim, 
they planted their garrisons upon its northern side at 
Ramallah and Michmash, while Saul's forces faced 
them from its southern side. This is the earliest 
appearance of this natural border across the Central 
Range in the character of a political frontier. The 
next is a few years later ; while David was king only 
of Judah/his soldiers sat down opposite those of Abner 
at Gibeon, on a line between Ajalon and Michmash. 
After the disruption the same line seems to have been 
the usual frontier between the kingdoms of Israel and 
Judah ; for Bethel, to the north of it, was a sanctuary 
of Israel, and Geba, to the south of it, was considered 
as the limit of Judah. But though the Vale of Ajalon 
and the gorge of Michmash form such a real division 
down both flanks of the plateau, the plateau itself 
between these offers no real frontier, but stretches 
level from Jerusalem to the north of Bethel. Conse- 
quently we find Judah and Israel pushing each other 
up and down it, Israel trying to get footing south and 
Judah trying to get footing north of Michmash. For 
instance, Baasha, king of Israel, went up against 
Judah, and built, or fortified, Ramah, the present Er- 
Ram, four miles north of Jerusalem, that he might not 
suffer any to go out or come in to Asa, king of Judah; 
but, Asa having paid the Syrians to invade Israel from 



n8 



THE HOLY LAND. 



the north, he left off building Ramah, and Asa made 
a levy throughout Judah, and they took away the stones 
of Ramah thereof wherewith Baasha had builded, and 
King Asa fortified with them Geba of Benjamin and 
Mizpeh(i Kings 21, 22). And conversely to Baasha's 
attempt on Ramah we find the kings of Judah making 
attempts on Bethel. Soon after the disruption Abijah 
won it for Judah, but it must have quickly averted to 
the north. 

49. Similarly to the Bethel plateau, the Jordan 
valley offered no real frontier between Judah and 
Israel, and consequently we find Jericho, .though a 
Judsean city, in possession of the northerners. On 
the west Israel did not come south of the Vale of 
Ajalon, for in that direction the Philistines were still 
strong (1 Kings, 16, 15). 

When the kingdom of northern Israel fell, Jericho 
and Bethel both reverted to Judah ; but Bethel was a 
pre-^xiuc tainted place and Josiah destroyed 

boundary. [ t ( 2 Kings, 23, 4), and still in his 
time Geba was the formal limit of Judah. Only 
formal, however, for Bethel and other villages to the 
north must have been rebuilt and occupied by Jews. 
Judah only slightly pushed her frontier northwards ; 
she got Jericho back, and Bethel, but she did not get 
Beth-horon (Joshua, 21, 22). Except, then, for the 
northward bulge at Bethel, the political frontier between 
Judah and Israel was, down to the time of the Exile, 
the most southerly of the three natural borders. 
During the exile the Samaritans must have flowed into 



THE CENTRAL RANGE. 



119 



the vacant Jewish cities. Under Ezra and Nehemiah 
the Samaritans were not entirely excluded, and it is 
evident that there was no real frontier north of Jeru- 
salem. Under the Maccabees the Jews were steadily 
pushed northwards. John Hyrcanus (135-105 B. C.) 
overran Samaria ; in 64 Pompey separated it again ; 

a religious m 3° it fell to Herod the Great ; in 
boundary. 6 A D it was taken with judsea 

from Archelaus, and put under a Roman procurator. 
In 41 Claudius gave it, with Judsea, to Agrippa. 
During all that time, therefore, there was no real 
political frontier between Judaea and Samaria. The 
great religious difference, however, kept them widely 
apart, and scrupulous Judaism was very careful to 
distinguish heathen from holy soil. They drew the 
line along the most northerly of the natural bound- 
aries. The northern boundary of Samaria was the 
southern edge of Esdraelon. 




GATE. 



THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK. 



CHAPTER IX. 



JUD^A. 

50. We now reach the stronghold and sanctuary 
of the land, Judaea, physically the most barren and 
awkward, morally the most potential and famous of 
all the provinces of Syria. From her isolate and 
unattractive position, which kept her for a longer time 
isolated than her sisters out of the world's 

position. regard, sprang the defects of her 
virtues — her selfishness, provincialism and bigotry. 
Slow and conservative, yet loyal and patriotic, Judaea 
was the seat of the one enduring dynasty of Israel, 
the site of their temple, the platform of all their chief 
prophets. After their great Exile they rallied round 
her capital, and centuries later they expended upon her 
fortresses the last efforts of their freedom. From the 
day in which the land was taken in pledge by the dust 
of the patriarchs, till the remnant of the garrison of 
Jerusalem slaughtered themselves out at Masada, 
rather than fall into Roman hands, or till at Bether 
the very last revolt was crushed by Hadrian, Judaea 
was the birthplace, the stronghold, the sepulchre of 
God's people. For us Christians it is enough to 
remember, besides, that Judaea contains the places of 
our Lord's Birth and Death, with the scenes of His 
Temptation, His more painful Ministry, and His Agony. 

Judaea is very small. Even when you extend the 

121 



122 



THE HOLY LAND. 



land to the promised border at the sea, and include 

all of it that is desert, it does not amount to more than 

2,000 square miles. But Judaea, in the days of its 

independence, never covered the 
extent. . : , Ar . . . 

whole Maritime Plain ; and even the 

Shephelah was frequently beyond it. Apart from 
Shephelah and Plain, Judaea was a region 55 miles 
long, from Bethel to Beersheba, and from 25 to 30 
broad, or about 1,350 square miles, of which nearly 
the half was desert. 

It ought not to be difficult to convey an adequate 
idea of so small or so separate a province. The 
center is a high and broken table-land from two to 
three thousand feet above the sea, perhaps thirty-five 
miles long by twelve to seventeen broad. You will 
almost cover it by one sweep of the eye. But sur- 
rounding this center are bulwarks of extraordinary 
variety and intricacy ; and as it is they which have so 
largely made the history of the land and the culture 
of its inhabitants, it will be better for us to survey 
them before we come to the little featureless plateau, 
which they so lift and isolate from the rest of the 
world. Let us begin with the most important of them 
— the Eastern. 

You cannot live in Judaea without being daily 
aware of the presence of the awful deep which bounds 
eastern ^ on the east — the lower Jordan 

frontier. valley and the Dead Sea. From 
Bethel, from Jerusalem, from Bethlehem, from 
Tekoah, from the heights above Hebron, and from 



JUDAEA. 



123 



fifty points between you look down into that deep, 
and you feel Judaea rising from it about you almost as 
a sailor feels his narrow deck, or a sentinel the sharp 
edged platform of his high fortress. To the east the 
land sinks swiftly to a depth of which you cannot see 
the bottom — but you know that it falls far below the 
level of the ocean — to the coasts of a bitter sea. 
Across this emptiness rise the hills of Moab, high and 
precipitous, and it is their bare edge, almost unbroken, 
and with nothing visible beyond, save a castle or a 
crag, which forms the eastern horizon of Judaea. 
The simple name by which that horizon was known 
to the Jews — the mountains of the other side — is more 
expressive than anything else could be of the great 
vacancy between. The depth, the haggard desert 
through which the land sinks into it, the singularity 
of that gulf and its imprisoned sea, and the high 
barrier beyond, conspire to produce on the inhabitants 
of Judaea a moral effect such as, I suppose, is created 
by no other frontier in the world. This is not the 
case in the Land of Moab. Moab to the east rolls 
off imperceptibly to Arabia ; there is no dividing 
river nor valley. Moab is open to the east ; Judaea, 
with the same formation and imposing the same habits 
of life on a kindred stock of men, has a great gulf 
between herself and the east. In this fact lies a very 
large part of the reason why she was chosen as the 
home of God's peculiar people. 

Passes to the east do not exist. There are many 
gorges, torn by winter torrents, but all are too narrow 



124 



THE HOLY LAND. 



and crooked to carry roads. The roads from the 
east into Judaea have to cross a waterless desert ; they 

gateways on must start, then, from the few well- 
the bast. watered spots on the eastern edge. 
There are only three of these — Jericho, Ain Feshkah, 
some ten miles south, and Engedi, eighteen miles far- 
ther. From Jericho there start into Judaea three 
roads ; from Jericho one, from Ain Feshkah one, and 
from Engedi one. 

The oasis of Engedi bursts upon the traveler from 
one of the driest and most poisoned regions of our 

the south- planet. After hours of riding through 
east pass. the desert of Judaea without water, 
with hardly a bush, through evil sulphur smells along 
a bitter sea, amid cliffs of rock that reflect the fiery 
sun overhead, he sees suddenly over the edge of a 
precipice a river of verdure burst from the rock and 
scatter itself, reeds, bush, trees and grass down 300 feet 
to a broad mile of gardens by the beach of the blue 
sea. He passes on through this broad fan of verdure 
through gardens of cucumber and melon, small fields 
of wheat, and a scattered orchard or two ; he hears 
the rush of water ; this is the site of ancient strong- 
holds such as David built (1 Sam. 23, 29). It was still 
a large village in the fourth century, and, during the 
Crusades, it gathered round a convent, with vineyards 
celebrated all through Syria. In an- 
cient times Engedi was also famous, 
like Jericho, for its palms and balsams. It ranks only 
second to Jericho as a gateway into Judaea and a 



JUDAEA. 



125 



source of supplies for the march through the wilder- 
ness. The way up from it is very steep. It is not a 
pass as much as a staircase, which has been partly 
hewn and partly built over the rocks. When you 
have climbed it you stand on a rolling plateau. The 
road breaks into two branches, both of them covered in 
parts with ancient pavement. One turns northwest 
to Herod's castle, Bethlehem and Jerusalem. It is a 
wild, extremely difficult road, and almost never used by 
caravans. The other turns southwest to Yuttah and 
Hebron. David came down to Engedi from Hebron. 

In the reign of Jehosophat, the Moabites and 
Ammonites, with other allies, invaded Judaea by 
Engedi (2 Chron. 20). They chose this route because 
Jericho at this time belonged, not to Judaea, but to 
Israel. They came by the ascent of Ziz ; Jehosophat 
went out to meet them in the wilderness of Jeruel, 
but he found them already slaughtered and dispersed 
in a valley, which was thereafter called by the relieved 
Judaeans Barachah or blessing. All these places are 
as unknown as the agents of the mysterious slaughter. 
It was probably some desert tribes which thus over- 
came Jehosophat's enemies before he arrived. We 
can see how easily this might be done in the tangled 
hills hiding many an ambush. 

The roads from Jericho — northwest to Ai and 
Bethel, southwest to Jerusalem, and south southwest 
to the lower Kedron and Bethlehem — do not keep to 
any line of valley. For as this flank of Judaea is cut 
only by deep gorges, the road generally follows the 



126 



THE HOLY LAND. 



ridges between the valleys. The most northerly of 
the north- these three routes into Judaea as- 
Eastgate. cends behind Jericho to the ridge 
north of the Kelt, follows it to Michmash, and so by 
Ai to Bethel. This is evidently an ancient road, and 
was probably the trade route between the Lower Jor- 
dan and the coast, both in ancient and mediaeval 
times. It is the line of Israel's first invasion, de- 
scribed in the seventh and eighth chapters of Joshua ; 
and its fitness for that is obvious, for it is open, and 
leads on to a broad plateau in the center of the 
country. 

The middle route of the three is now the ordinary 
road from Jerusalem to Jericho. It is the shortest, 
and therefore the usual pilgrim route. Pereans and 
Galileans came up to the temple by it ; it was the 
path of our Lord and His disciples, when He set His 
face steadfastly toward Jerusalem ; and from then 
the eastern until now it has been trodden in the 

gate. opposite direction by pilgrims from 

all lands to the scene of His baptism. When taken 
upwards, a more hot and heavy w r ay it is impossible 
to conceive — between blistered limestone rocks, with 
the bare hills piled high in front, without shadow or 
verdure. There is no water from Jericho till you 
reach the roots of the Mount of Olives. It has 
always been infested by thieves, and the surrounding 
Arabs have always found the pilgrims a profitable 
prey (Luke 10, 30). 

The third road from Jericho leaves the Arabah 



JUDiEA. 



127 



about five miles south of Jericho, and coming up by 
El Muntar, crosses the Kedron near Mar Saba. 
Thence one branch strikes northwest to Jerusalem, 
and another southwest to Bethlehem ; before they 
separate they are joined by a road from Ain Feshkah, 
the large oasis ten miles south of Jericho, on the 
Dead Sea coast. Over one or other of these roads 
Naomi brought Ruth, and David took his family down 
to the King of Moab. Moab is visible from Beth- 
lehem ; when Ruth lifted her eyes from gleaning the 
fields of Boaz, she saw her native land over against her. 

51. Let us next look at the southern border of 
Judaea, the Negeb, translated "The South" in our 
version (1 Sam. 30, 1). It means, literally, the Dry 
or Parched Land. It is a region of immense extent 
and great historical interest. 

From Hebron the Central Range lets itself slowly 
down by broad undulations, through which the great 
Wady Khulil winds as far as Beersheba, and then, as 
the southern Wady es Seba turns sharply to the 
frontier. west, finding the sea near Gaza. It 
is a country visited by annual rains, with at least a 
few perennial springs, and in the early summer abund- 
ance of flowers and grain. A thick scrub covers most 
of the slopes. There are olive trees about the vil- 
lages, but elsewhere few trees. Travelers coming 
up from the desert delight in the scanty verdure which 
meets them as soon as they have passed Beersheba. 
The gentle descent cut by the Wady es Seba renders 
the frontier an open one, but it does not roll out 



128 



THE HOLY LAND. 



upon the desert. South of Beersheba there lies sixty 

miles of mountainous country, whose inaccessibleness 

is further certified by the character of the tribes that 

roam over it. Wilder sons of 
inaccessible. — ■ 

Ishmael are not to be found on all 

the desert. No great route has ever led through this 
district. Paths indeed skirt this region, but they are 
not war paths. When Judah's frontier extended to 
Elath, Solomon's cargoes from Ophir (i Kings, 9, 26- 
28), and the tribute of Arabian kings to Jehosophat 
(2 Chron. 17, 11), were doubtless carried through it. 
When the Jews came back from exile they found the 
Edomites settled as far north as Hebron. But no 
army of invasion, knowing that opposition awaited 
them on the Judsean frontier, would venture across 
those steep and haggard ridges, especially when the 
Dead Sea and the Gaza routes lie so convenient on 
either hand, and lead to regions so much more fertile 
than the Judsean plateau. Hence we find Judaea was 
never invaded from the south. Chedorlaomer's expe- 
dition sacked Engedi, but left Hebron untouched 
(Gen. 14). Israel themselves were repulsed when 
seeking to enter the Promised Land by this frontier; 
and perhaps most significant of all, the invasion by 
Islam, though its chief goal may be said to have been 
the Holy City of Jerusalem, and though its nearest 
road to this lay past Hebron, swerved to east and 
west, and entered, some of it by Gaza, and some, 
like Israel, across Jordan. 

The most notable road across this southern border 



JUD^A. 



129 



of Judah was the continuation of the great highway 
from Bethel, which kept the watershed to Hebron, 
and thence came down to Beersheba. From here it 
struck due south across the western ridges of the sav- 
age highland district, and divided into several branches. 
One, the old Roman road, curved round the south of 
the highland district to Akabah and Arabia ; another, 
the way, perhaps, of Elijah when he fled from Jezebel 
(i Kings, 19), and much used by modern pilgrims, 
crossed to Sinai, while a third struck direct to Egypt, 
the way to Shut. By this last Abraham passed and 
repassed through the Negeb (Gen. 13, 11) ; Hagar, the 
Egyptian slave woman, fled from her mistress, per- 
haps with some wild hope of reaching her own coun- 
try (Gen. 16, 7) ; and Jacob went down into Egypt 
with his wagons (Gen. 46, 1-5). In time of alliance 
between Egypt and Judah this was the way of com- 
munication with them. In the time of the Crusades 
rich caravans passed from Cairo to Saladin at Jerusa- 
lem, one of which Richard intercepted near Beersheba. 
It is an open road, but a wild one, and was never used 
for the invasion of Judaea from Egypt. The nearer 
way to the most of Syria from Egypt lay along the 
coast, and, passing up the Maritime Plain, left the hill 
country of Judaea to the east. 

The broad barrier of rough highlands to the south 
of Beersheba represents the difference between the 
ideal and the practical borders of the Holy Land. 
Practically the land extended from Dan to Beersheba, 
where, during the greater part of history, the means of 
9 



13° 



THE HOLY LAND. 



settled cultivation came to an end ; but the ideal bor- 
der was the river of Egypt, the present Wady el Arish, 
whose chief tributary comes right up to the foot of the 
highlands, south of Beersheba, and passes between 
them and the level desert beyond. 

52. Of all names in Palestine there are hardly any 
better known than Beersheba. Nothing could more 
aptly illustrate the defenselessness of 
these southern slopes of Judah than 
that this site, which marked the frontier of the land, 
was neither a fortress nor a gateway, but a cluster of 
wells on the open desert. But, like Dan, at the other 
end of the land, Beersheba was a sanctuary. These 
two facts, its physical use to their flocks, its holiness 
to themselves, are strangely intermingled in the stories 
of the Patriarchs, whose herdsmen strove for its waters; 
who, themselves, plant a tamarisk, and call on the name 
of Jehovah, the everlasting God. The meaning of the 
name might either be Well of Seven, or Well of the 
Oath. There are seven wells there now, and to the 
north, on the hills that bound the valley, are scattered 
ruins nearly three miles in circumference. Beersheba 
was a place of importance under Samuel. His sons 
judged there. Elijah fled to Beersheba. It was still 
a sanctuary in the eighth century B. C. , and frequented 
even by northern Israel (Amos 5, 5). During the 
separation of the kingdoms, the formula, from Dan to 
Beersheba, became from Geba to Beersheba (2 Kings 
23, 8), or from Beersheba to Mount Ephraim (2 Chron. 
19, 4). On the return from exile, Beersheba was 



JUD^A. 



again peopled by Jews, and the formula ran from 
Beersheba to the valley of Hinnom (Neh. 1 1, 27). In 
Roman times Beersheba was a very large village with 
a garrison. It was the seat of a Christian bishopric. 
The Crusaders did not come so far south. 

South of Beersheba, for thirty miles, the country, 
though mostly barren, is sprinkled with the ruins of old 
villages gathered round wells. They date mostly from 
Christian times, and are eloquent in their testimony to 
the security which the Roman government imposed on 
even the most lawless deserts. 

53. The ideal boundary of Judaea on the west was 
the Mediterranean, but the Maritime Plain was never 
the western i n Jewish possession, except for 
frontier. intervals in the days of the Macca- 
bees, and even then the Shephelah was debatable 
ground, as often out of Judah as within it. The most 
frequent border, therefore, of Judah to the west, was 
the edge of the Central Range. A long series of val- 
leys running south from Ajalon to Beersheba, separate 
the low loose hills of Shephelah from the lofty com- 
pact range to the east. This is the hill-country of 
Judaea. This great barrier, which repelled the Philis- 
tines, even when they had conquered the Shephelah, 
is penetrated by a number of defiles, none very broad. 
Few are straight, most of them sharply curve. The 
sides are steep, and are often precipitous, frequently 
with no path between save the rough torrent bed, 
arranged in rapids of loose gravel, or in level steps of 
the limestone strata. The sun beats fiercely down 



132 



THE HOLY LAND. 



upon the limestone; the springs are few, though some- 
times very generous; a low, thick bush fringes the 
brows, and caves abound and tumbled rocks. Every- 
thing conspires to give the few inhabitants easy means 
of defense against large armies. 

Yet, with negligent defenders, the western border 
of Judaea is quickly penetrated. Six hours at the 

most will bring an army up anv of 
invasions - t ° t , 

from thb the denies, and then they stand on 

west. f-he cen t r al plateau, within a few 

easy miles of Jerusalem or of Hebron. So it hap- 
pened in the days of the Maccabees. The Syrians, 
repelled at Bethhoron, penetrated twice the un- 
watched defiles to the south, the second time with a 
large number of elephants, of which we are told that 
they had to come up the gorges in single file. What 
a sight the strange, huge animals must have been, 
pushing up the narrow path, and emerging for the 
first and almost only time in history on the plateau 
above! On both occasions the Syrians laid siege to 
Bethsur, the stronghold on the edge of the plateau. 
The first time they were beaten back down the gorges, 
but the second time, with the elephants, Bethsur fell, 
and the Syrian army advanced on Jerusalem. After 
that all attacks from the west failed, and the only 
other successful Syrian invasion was from the north. 

Bethsur, the one fortress on the western flank of 
Judaea, south of Ajalon, is due to the one open valley 
on that flank, the Vale of El ah, above the higher end 
of which it stands, The need of it could not be more 



JUDuEA. 



133 



eloquently signified than by the fact that it was up the 
Vale of Elah that the Philistines, the Syrians in the 
second century B. C. , and Richard with the third 
Crusade, all attempted to reach the Central Plateau. 

But if invaders came up these defiles we may be 
sure that the settler on the heights also passed down 
them to the Shephelah. There was intermarriage, 
especially with those round Adullam. This is the 
meaning of the extraordinary adventure related in 
Gen. 36, which is an account, not of an individual 
escapade, but of the intermarriage of the families of 
the tribe of Judah. 

54. For the northern border of Judaea, the nar- 
row table-land continues ten miles to the north of 
Jerusalem, before it breaks into the valleys and mount- 
north^rn a * ns °^ Samaria. These last ten 

frontier. miles of the Judaea plateau — with 
steep gorges on one side to the Jordan, and on the 
other to Ajalon — were the debatable ground across 
which the most accessible frontier of Judah fluctuated; 
and, therefore, they became the site of more fortresses, 
sieges, battles and massacres than any other part 
of the country. Their appearance matches their 
violent history. A desolate and fatiguing extent of 
rocky platforms and ridges, or moorland strewn with 
boulders, and fields of shallow soil mixed with stone, 
they are a true border, more fit for the building of 
barriers than for the cultivation of food. They were 
the territory of Benjamin, in whose blood, at the time 
of the massacre of the tribe of Judah (Judges 20, 35), 



134 



the holy Land. 



they received the baptism of their awful history. As 
you cross them their aspect recalls the fierce temper 
of their inhabitants. " Benjamin shall ravin as a 
wolf." 

But it is as a frontier that we have now to do with 
those ten miles of the Judaean plateau. Upon the 
last of them three roads concentrate: (i) an open 
highway from the west by Gophna; (2) the great north 
road from Shechem, and (3) a road from the Jordan 
valley through the passes of Mount Ephraim. Where 
these three roads draw together, about three miles 
from the end of the plateau, stood Bethel, a sanctuary 
northern before the Exile, thereafter a strong 

fortresses, city of Judah. But Bethel, where 
she stood, could not by herself keep the northern gate 
of Judaea. For behind her to the south emerge two 
roads, that from Jordan by Ai, and that from Ajalon 
up the gorges, and the ridge of Beth-horon. The Ai 
route is covered by Michmash where Saul and Jona- 
than were entrenched against the Philistines (1 Sam. 
13), and where the other Jewish hero who was called 
Jonathan — the Maccabeus — held for a time his head- 
quarters. The Beth-horon roads w T ere covered by Gib- 
eon, the frontier post between David and Saul's house 
(2 Sam. 2, 12-13). Between Michmash and Gibeon 
there are six miles; and on these lie others of the 
strong points that stood forth in the invasion and 
defense of this frontier; Geba, long the limit of Judah 
on the north (2 Kings 23, 8); Ramah, which Baasha, 
king of Israel, built for a blockade against Judah 



JUD^A. 



135 



(1 Kings 15, 17). The earlier invasions delivered 
northern upon this frontier of Judah are diffi- 
invasions. cult to follow. The Philistines over- 
ran it from Ajalon or from Mount Ephraim; Saul's 
center was at Michmash; Isaiah pictures a possible 
march this way by the Assyrians after the fall of 
Samaria (Is. 10, 28-32). This is not actual fact; but 
this is what might have happened any day after the 
fall of Samaria. The prophet is describing how easily 
the Assyrian could advance by this open route upon 
Zion; and yet, if he did, Jehovah would cut him down 
in the very sight of his goal How Nabuchadnezzar 
came up against Jerusalem is not stated; but we can 
follow the course of subsequent invasion. In the great 
Syrian war in 160 B C. Nicanor and Bacchides both 
attempted the plateau — the former unsuccessfully by 
Beth-horon, the latter with success from the north. 
In 64 B. C. Pompey marched from Beth-shan through 
Samaria, but could not have reached Judaea had the 
Jews only persevered in their defense of the passes of 
Mount Ephraim. These being left open, Pompey 
advanced easily by Jericho upon Bethel, and thence 
unopposed to the very walls of Zion. In 37 B. C. 
Herod marched from the north and took Jerusalem. 
In 70 A. D., after Vespasian had spent two years in 
reducing all the strong places round about Judaea, 
Titus led his legions to the great siege past Gophna 
and Bethel. It seems to have been by Pompey's 
route that the forces of Islam came upon Jerusalem; 
they met with no resistance either in Ephraim or 



136 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Judah, and the city was delivered into their hands by 
agreement, 637 A. D. 

In 1099 the first Crusaders advanced to their suc- 
cessful siege by Ajalon. In 1 1 87, Saladin, having 
conquered the rest of the land, drew in on the Holy 
City from Hebron, from Ashkelon and from the north. 

55. Having gone round about Judaea, and marked 
well her bulwarks, we may now draw some conclu- 



southern border offers but few obstacles after the* des- 
ert is passed; her eastern and western walls have been 
carried again and again; Judaea, in fact, has been often 
overrun, and yet it has all the advantages of insularity. 
Lifted high and unattractive above the line of traffic, 
Judaea is separated as much as an island from the two 
great continents. This province herself tells you, by 
mute eloquence of rock, mountain and desert, her 
value to the great people for whom she was shaped by 
the Creator's hands, All this receives exact illustra- 
tion from both Psalmists and Prophets. They may 
rejoice in the fertility of their land, but they never 
boast of its strength. In the great crises of her his- 
tory, Judaea was saved neither by the strength of her 
bulwarks nor by the valor of her men. God himself 
crushed her insolent foes in the moment of their tri- 
umph. Thus we know how the geography of Pales- 
tine not only makes clear such subordinate things as 
the campaigns and migrations of the Old Testament, 



JBHOVAH, THE 
STRENGTH 
OF JUDAH. 



sions as to the exact measure of her 
strength, physical and moral. To 
the north she has no frontier; her 



JUD^A. 



137 



but signalizes the providence of God, and the char- 
acter He demanded from His people. It was a great 
lesson the Spirit taught Israel, that no people dwells 
secure apart from God. 

There are but few extensive fertile tracts in Judaea. 
Some of the breaks on the table-land are very rich in 
few fertile vegetation, as at Bethany, the Val- 
tracts. j e y f Hinnom, the Gardens of Sol- 

omon, and other spots round Bethlehem, and in the 
neighborhood of Hebron, the famous vale of Eschol. 
And again, between Hebron and the wilderness there 
are nine miles by three of plateau, where the soil is 
almost free from stones, and the fields are well calcu- 
lated for agriculture. This is where Maon, Ziph and 
the Judaean Carmel lay with the farms of Nabal, on 
which David and his men, like the Bedouin of to-day, 
levied blackmail from Horeshah in the wilderness 
below. 

But the prevailing impression of Judaea is of stone. 
There is no water to soothe the eye, no great hills to 
lift it. The landscape is a featureless roll of low, 
a und of black hills, with here and there flat- 
sh^ph^rds. roofed villages. The prevailing 
aspect of Judaea is pastoral, and the fulfillment of 
Jacob's luscious blessing (Gen. 49), must be sought for 
in the few fruitful corners of the land. Judaea was a 
land of shepherds. The images of God, and her 
sweetest poetry of the spiritual life, have been derived 
from this source. It is the stateliest shepherds of all 
time whom the dawn of history reveals upon her 



1 3 8 



THE HOLY LAND. 



fields, men not sprung from her own limited and 
remote conditions, nor confined to them, but moving 
across the world in converse with great empires, and 
bringing down from the Heaven truths sublime to wed 
with the simple habits of her life. These were the 
patriarchs of the nations. The founder of its one 
dynasty, and the first of its literary prophets, were all 
taken from following the flocks (2 Sam. 7, 8; Amos, 
7, 15). The king and every true leader of men was 
called a shepherd. Jehovah was the shepherd of his 
people, and they the sheep of his pasture. It was in 
Judaea that Christ called himself the Good Shepherd, 
as it was in Judaea also that, taking the other great 
feature of her life, He said He was the True Vine. 

Judaea, indeed, offers as good ground as there is in 
all the East for observing the grandeur of the shep- 
herd's character. On the boundless eastern pasture, 
so different from the narrow meadows and the hillsides 
with which we are familiar, the shepherd was indis- 
pensable. With us, sheep are often left to themselves; 
but I do not remember ever to have seen in the East 
a flock of sheep without a shepherd. In such a land- 
scape as Judaea, where a day's pasture is thinly scat- 
tered over an unfenced tract of country, covered with 
delusive paths, and rolling off into the desert, the 
shepherds are indispensable. We can understand why 
the shepherd of Judaea sprang to the front in his peo- 
ple's history ; w 7 hy they gave his name to their king, 
and made him the symbol of Providence ; why Christ 
took him as the type of self-sacrifice. 



JUDAEA. 



139 



Another feature is its neighborhood to the desert. 
It carries the violence and desolation of the Dead Sea 
influence of Valley right up to the heart of the 

the desert, country, to the roots of the Mount 
of Olives, to within two hours of the gates of Hebron, 
Bethlehem and Jerusalem. When you realize that 
this howling waste came within reach of nearly every 
Jewish child; when you climb the Mount of Olives or 
any hill about Bethlehem, or the hill of Tekoah, and, 
looking east, see those fifteen miles of chaos, sinking 
to a stretch of the Dead Sea, you begin to understand 
the influence of the desert on Jewish imagination and 
literature. It gave the ancient natives of Judaea the 
sense of living next door to doom, the awe of the 
power of God, who can make contiguous regions so 
opposite in character. He turneth rivers into a wilder- 
ness, and water-springs into a thirsty ground. The 
desert is always in the face of the prophets, and its 
howling of beasts and its dry sand blow mournfully 
across their pages, the foreboding of judgment. 

Two, at least, of the prophets were born in face of 
the wilderness of Judaea — Amos and Jeremiah — and on 
upon both it has left its fascination. Amos 

mterattjre. lived to the south of Jerusalem, at 
Tekoah. No one can read his book without feeling 
that he haunted heights and lived in the face of very 
wide horizons. From Tekoah you see the exact 
scenery of his visions. The slopes on which Amos 
herded his cattle show the mass of desert hills with 
their tops below the spectator. The cold wind blows 



140 



THE HOLY LAXD. 



up from them after sunset ; through a gap lies the 
Dead Sea with its heavy mists ; beyond the gulf the 
range of Moab, cold and gray. But when the morn- 
ing sun leaps from behind his barrier, in a moment the 
world of hill-tops below Tekoah is flooded with light. 
Such was the landscape of Amos. 

Jeremiah grew up at Anathoth, a little to the north- 
east of Jerusalem, across Scopus, and over a deep 
valley. It is the last village eastward, and from its 
site the land falls away in broken, barren hills to the 
north end of the Dead Sea. The vision of that desert 
was burnt into the prophet's mind, and he contrasted 
it with the clear, ordered word of God. O generation, 
see ye the word of the Lord ; have I been a wilderness 
unto ye, Israel, a land of darkness ? (Jer. 2, 31.) 

Here John was prepared for his austere mission, 
and found his figures of judgment. Here you under- 
john and stand his own description of his 

jESus. preaching — like a desert fire when 

the brown grass and thorns will blaze for miles, and 
the unclean reptiles creep out of their holes before its 
heat. O generation of vipers, who hath taught you to 
flee from the wrath to come ? And here our Lord suf- 
fered his temptation. Straightway the Spirit driveth 
him into the wilderness. For hours, as you travel 
across these hills, you may feel no sign of life, except 
the scorpions and vipers which your passage startles ; 
in the distance a few wild goats or gazelles and at 
night the wailing of the jackal and the hyena's howl. 
He was alone with the wild beasts. 



JUD^A. 141 

But the most impressive fact about Judaea — at 
least in face of her history — is her natural unfitness 
for the growth of any great city. All the towns of 
Judaea were either fortresses, shrines, or country vil- 
lages. The fortresses were on the borders, chiefly on 
the west and north. On the western border was the 
no site for a shrine of Kirjath Jearim, or Baalath- 

urg^city. Jehuda. The agricultural villages 
lay chiefly on the east, Tekoah and the group of cities 
on the fertile plateau southeast of Hebron. But up 
the center of the plateau ran a road, and all the places 
of greatest importance lay upon it — Beersheba, Kirjath- 
sepher, Hebron, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Bethel. 
Of these, Beersheba, Hebron and Bethel were 
sanctuaries long before Israel entered the land; and 
Jerusalem, from the earliest times, has been a fortress 
and probably also a shrine. Hebron and Bethlehem, 
the two earliest seats of Judah, have the greatest 
natural possibilities. 

56. Ancient Hebron lay on the hill to the north- 
west of the present site; it commands an entrance to 
the higher plateau, and it is within hail of the desert, 
which means trade with Arabs. The valleys about it 
are very beautiful and fruitful. Like so many ancient 
towns, Hebron must have combined 

HEBRON. ; • r 1 i 

the attractions of a market and a 
shrine. All scholars agree that the old rectangular 
mosk covers the cave of Machpelah and that therein 
are buried six of the ancestors of the Hebrew nation: 
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah ? 



142 



THE HOLY LAND. 



But we are only permitted to look upon the entrance 
to the cave, and that, too, at a respectful distance. 
The old mosk is 198 feet long by 114, and some of 
the strangely beveled stones in its walls are nearly 40 
feet long and three feet thick. Abraham built there 
an altar unto the Lord; from Ephron the Hittite he 
purchased' the cave of Machpelah to bury his wife 
Sarah within its rocky walls. Hebron was also one 
of the cities of refuge. Though the lands of Hebron 
were given to Caleb and his children, the city itself 
was made a heritage of the priests of Israel (Josh. 21, 
11). It was well known to the grotesque hero, Sam- 
son, and it was to a hill before Hebron that he car- 
ried off the gates of Gaza (Judges, 16, 3). 

Later on Hebron was a favorite haunt of David, 
during his persecution by Saul (1 Sam. 30, 31). Here 
he was among his own people of the tribe of Judah. 
It was here that Abner, coming to make terms with 
him, was treacherously murdered by Joab (2 Sam. 3, 
17-27). Here David was anointed King of Judah, 
and lived for seven and a half peaceful years (2 Sam. 
2, 4-1 1). Here doubtless many of his psalms were 
written, especially that glorious psalm of kingly 
triumph, the eighteenth. Here, too, after the death 
of Saul he was anointed king over united Israel 
(2 Sam. 5, 3). But Hebron was at last to have sor- 
rowful associations for David, for it was at Hebron 
that Absalom raised the standard of revolt (2 Sam. 15, 
7-10). It was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. 11, 
10). It was burnt to ashes in the reign of Vespasian, 



JUDAEA. 



143 



to be rebuilt in the eighth century. A church was 
built by the Crusaders, now a mosk. It is called El 
Khalil, or, the Friend, in honor of Abraham. It has 
a population of about 20,000. 

57. Bethlehem Ephratah was no shrine, but, as 
its name implies, it lies in the midst of a district of 
great fertility, with water not far 
away. Though too little to be 
placed among the families of Judah, it has the finest 
site in the whole province. The traveler who visits 
Bethlehem now sees much such a city as that in which 
the Saviour was born. It has about 5,000 inhabit- 
ants, most of whom are nominal Christians. Their 
chief industry is the manufacture of mother-of-pearl 
and olive-wood crosses, chaplets and rosaries, such as 
pilgrims from all lands love to bear away. The great 
church of St. Mary, marking the place of Christ's 
nativity, appears to be the very church reared by the 
Emperor Constantine in 330. It is now in joint pos- 
session of the Greeks, Latins and Armenians. Under 
the church is the cave of the nativity. Its dimensions 
are forty by sixteen feet; its height is only ten feet. 
It is lighted by huge candles standing in enormous 
candlesticks. Within the cave is the Shrine of the 
Nativity, lighted, day and night, by fifteen lamps; 
and in the center of its floor a single silver star bears 
the inscription, Hie de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus 
natus est — Here of the Virgin Mary Jesus Christ was 
born. 

Yet neither Bethlehem nor Hebron, nor any other 



144 



THE HOLY LAND. 



part of that plateau, bears tokens of civic promise. 
Throughout Judaea these are absolutely lacking. She 
has no harbors, no river, no great trunk road, no 
convenient market for the nations. Gaza has outdone 
Hebron as the port of the desert. Jerusalem is no 
match for Shechem in fertility or convenience of site. 
The whole plateau of Judaea stands aloof, waterless, 
on the road to nowhere. There are none of the 
natural conditions of a great city. And yet it was 
here that She arose, who, more than Athens and more 
than Rome, taught the nations justice, and gave her 
name to the ideal city men are ever striving to build 
on earth, to the city of God that shall one day 
descend from Heaven — the New Jerusalem. For her 
builder was not nature nor the wisdom of men; but 
on that secluded and barren site the Word of God, by 
her prophets, laid her eternal foundations in righteous- 
ness, and reared her walls in her people's faith in God. 




DONKEY, 



CHAPTER X. 



SAMARIA. 

58. From Judaea we pass to Samaria. Halves of 
the same mountain range, how opposite they are in 
samaria and disposition and history. The north- 

jud^a. ern j s as f a j r anc j p en as the south- 

ern is secluded and austere, and their fortunes corre- 
spond. To the prophets, Samaria is the older sister 
(Ezek. 16, 46), standing nearer to the world, taking 
precedence alike in good and evil. The more forward 
to attract, the more quick to develop, Samaria was 
always the less able to perform, to retain. The patri- 
archs came first to Shechem, but chose their homes 
about Hebron ; the earliest seats of Israel's worship, 
the earliest rallies of her patriotism, were upon Mount 
Ephraim (Judges 3, 27), but both church and state ulti- 
mately centered in Jerusalem ; after the disruption of 
the kingdom, the first prophets and heroes sprang up 
in the richer life of Northern Israel, but the splendor 
and endurance both of prophecy and of kingship 
remained with Judaea. And so, though we owe to 
Samaria some of the finest of Israel's national lyrics, 
she produced no literature of patriotism, but the bulk 
of the literature about her is full of scorn for her traffic 
with foreigners, for her luxury and her tolerance of 
many idols. Pride, fullness of bread and prosperous 
ease, then rottenness and swift ruin, are the chief 
10 145 ' 



146 



THE HOLY LAND. 



notes of prophecy concerning her. And so to-day, 
while pilgrims throng on either hand to Judaea and to 
Galilee, none seek Samaria save for one tiny spot of 
her surface— that was neither a birth-place nor a tomb 
nor a battle-field nor a city, but the scene of a wayside 
conversation by him who used this land only to pass 
through it. 

But if hardly Holy Land — if hardly even national 
land — there is no region of Palestine more interesting 
and romantic. The traveler, enter- 

FINE SCENERY. f . 

mg irom Judaea, is refreshed by a 
far fairer landscape. When he reaches the Vale of 
Shechem he finds himself at the true physical center of 
Palestine, from which the features of the whole coun- 
try radiate and group themselves most clearly. His- 
torical memories, too, burst about 

HISTORY. . f _ , . ■ . 

the paths of Samaria more lavishly 
than even those fountains which render her such a con- 
trast to Judaea — the altars at Shechem and Shiloh, the 
fields round Dothan, the Palm tree of Deborah, the 
wine-press of Ophrah, Carmel and Gilboa, the col- 
umns in Samaria, the vineyard of Naboth, the gates 
of Jezreel and Bethshan, the fords of Jordan, the 
approach of the patriarchs, Elijah's apparitions, Elisha 
passing to and fro, John baptizing at Enon near to 
Salim, Ahab and Herod, Gideon's campaign, Jehu's 
furious driving, battles of the Maccabees, the strategy 
of Pompey and of Vespasian. 

The souther frontier of Samaria gradually receded 
from the Vale of Ajalon and Akrabbeh. The northern 



SAMARIA. 



147 



was more fixed, and lay from the Mediterranean to Jor- 
dan, along the south edge of Esdraelon, by the foot of 
Carmel and Gilboa. If we shut off Carmel, the edge 
of Sharon may be taken as the western boundary; the 
eastern was Jordan. These limits enclose a territory 
nearly square, or some 40 miles north and south, by 
35 east and west. From Bethel to Jezreel it is 42 
miles ; from the edge of Sharon to Jordan varies be- 
tween 33 and 36 miles ; but from the point of Carmel 
to Bethshan is 40 miles, and to the southeast corner of 
the province about 67 miles. Without Carmel Samaria 
is about 1,400 square miles ; Carmel represents about 
180 or 200 more. Judaea was estimated at 2,000 
square miles, of which only about 1,400 were habit- 
able. 

The earliest name given to this section of the Cen- 
tral Range was Mount Ephraim (Josh. 17, 15), just as 
the whole table-land of Judah was called Mount 
Judah (John, 21, 11). 
A bird's-eye view of the 
country shows the pro- 
priety of the singular 
name * 'Mount." Brok- 
en up as Samaria is into 
more or less isolated 
groups of hills, yet 
when you view her from 
Gilead, or from the 
Mediterranean, she pre- 
sents the aspect of a 




148 



THE HOLY LAND. 



single mountain mass, with entrances indeed, but 
apparently as compact as even the table-land of 
Judaea. 

59. Take first the western flank. Here, from 
summits of 3,000 feet, Mount Ephraim descends upon 
mount Sharon by uninterrupted ridges. 

ephraim. The general aspect of the slope is 
rocky and sterile, with infrequent breaks of olive- 
woods, fields and a few villages. This barrenness is 
not because of steepness; on the contrary, the descent, 
which is unbroken, is also gradual, only some 1,800 
feet in eighteen miles. That little history was enacted 
upon this flank of Mount Ephraim seems to be due to 
the impossibility of anywhere making a stand, the 
uselessness of anywhere building a fortress. 

On the water-shed, the one pass conspicuous from 
the sea is that in which Shechem lies between Ebal 
and Gerizim. It crosses to the eastern side of the 
range, and is thence continued by a valley with a 
strong southerly trend, the present Wady el Ifjim, 
which runs out upon the Jordan below the promon- 
tory of Surtabeh, and divides the eastern flank of 
Mount Ephraim into two distinct sections. South of 
the Wady el Ifjim, Mount Ephraim presents to East- 
ern Palestine a high bulwark of mountain closely piled 
with wild ravines running up it, the most difficult cor- 
ner of the whole frontier. Seen from Nebo it looks 
inaccessible. The descent is over 2, 300 feet in nine 
miles, or three times the gradient of the western 
flank. But north of the Wady el Ifjim and the Horn 



SAMARIA. 



149 



of Surtabeh, the flank of Mount Ephraim opens, and 
a series of broad valleys descend through it from the 
interior. From the water-shed the level drops 2,500 
feet in ten miles. Opposite the center of the prov- 
ince the hills fall close on Jordan, but farther north 
they recede to a distance of five miles, and at Beth- 
shan they turn away westward in the range of Gilboa, 
leaving the valley of Jezreel to run up on the north of 
them towards the Mediterranean. 

Within these compact bulwarks Mount Ephraim 
surprises us with the number of its plains, meadows 
a fbrtii/B an d spacious vales. These begin 
1, and. from the north, with the gap between 

Carmel and Gilboa, through which a broad gulf of 
Esdraelon gapes for seven miles to Jenin. Thence a 
succession of level spaces, more or less connected, 
spread southward through the center of the province 
to within a few miles of the southern border. First 
from Jenin to the Plain of Dothan, reached by an easy 
pass through low hills; thence another easy pass leads 
to a series of spacious meadows lying across the 
country from the south end of Mount Gilboa to the 
range of hills which bulwark the city of Samaria on 
the north; and thence another easy pass leads to a 
third series of plains running south past the Vale of 
Shechem into the great Sahel Mukhneh opposite 
Gerizim. Now upon this succession of level lands 
running south from Esdraelon, there emerge valleys, 
both those that come up from Sharon, and those that 
come up from Jordan. Of the former the chief is 



THE HOLY LAND. 



the broad Barley Vale, Wady esh Shair, which sweeps 
up past Samaria upon Shechem. In this direction, 
too, the gentle ridges offer almost everywhere easy 
access from the coast. On the other side, running 
down into Jordan, there are the Wady Farah, that 
winds from a little south of Shechem to opposite the 
Jabbok — the trunk road to the east, and to-day partly 
the route of the telegraph wire from Nablous to 
Es-Salt; farther north the Bukeia, or Little Dale; 
then the Salt Vale, or Wady el Maleh, that issued at 
Abel-Meholah, and, lastly, the Wady el Kashneh, with 
the ancient road from Shechem to Bethshan, up which 
came perhaps Pompey, and certainly Vespasian. All 
these are the outgoings of Mount Ephraim, broad, 
fertile, and of easy gradients. But beside these, and 
even where the mountains crowd most thickly together, 
in the southeast corner of the province there are fre- 
quent meadows and grain fields. Travelers from 
Judaea will remember the open vales which they 
crossed before they reached the Mukhneh; and of the 
less visited country to the west Robinson says: "It 
was a matter of surprise to us to find in this great 
breakdown of the mountain so much good land; so 
many fine and arable, though not large, plains. 

60. Therefore the openness of Samaria is her most 
prominent feature, and tells most in her history. Few 
the openness invaders were successfully resisted. 
of samaria. j t j s a s i n g U l a r fact that we have no 
account of the invasion by Israel. Bethel falls, and 
after that the tribe of Joseph, to whom the region is 



SAMARIA. 



allotted, express no fear, record no struggle, till they 
come to the Plain of Esdraelon. Under the invasion 
of the Canaanites Israel's native law could be admin- 
istered only in the extreme southeast, between Ramah 
and Bethel, where stood the palm tree of Deborah 
(Judges 4, 5). In the days of Gideon the Midianites 
swept south from the plain of Esdraelon, so that the 
use of the open threshing floors was impossible even at 
Ophrah (Judges 6, 1 1). In Elisha's time the Syrians, 
by apparently annually invasions, swept westward as far 
as the citadel of Samaria, behind the water-shed. The 
Assyrians overwhelmed the land and carried off the 
greater part of the population. Vespasian, seeking to 
blockade Judaea, marched from Antipatris by Shechem 
to Korea, and thence to Jericho and back again, and 
then toGophna, Ephraim and back again, incredible as 
it seems, within a week. And Titus came easily upon 
Jerusalem from Caesarea past Gophna and Bethel. 
How differently all this reads from the history of the 
invasion of Judaea through her narrow defiles — the 
sallies from the hills, the ambushes of the Wadi Ali, 
the routs down by the two Beth-horons and Ajalon. 

One very interesting effect of the openness of Sa- 
maria is the frequency with which the chariot appears 
chariot i n her history. In the annals of 

driving. Judah chariots are but seldom men- 
tioned. All the long drives of the Old Testament are 
in Samaria — the race of Ahab against the storm from 
Mount Carmel to Jezreel (1 Kings 18, 44); his long 
funeral in his battle chariot stained with his lifeblood, 



152 



THE HOLY LAND. 



from Ramoth-Gilead to Samaria (i Kings 22, 29) ; 
the drive of Jehu from Ramoth-Gilead past Bethshan 
and up the valley of Jezreel (2 Kings 9, 16) ; the 
chariot race from there between Jehu and poor Aha- 
ziah, by the way of the garden house ; the ascent of 
Gur, which is by Ibleam, where Ahaziah was smitten, 
and Megiddo, where he died, and his servants carried 
him in a chariot to Jerusalem (2 Kings 9, 28) ; Jehu's 
drive again from Jezreel to Samaria, ' ' And he lighted 
on Jehonadab, the son of Rechab coming to meet him ; 
And he gave him his hand, and took him up into the 
chariot, and said, Come with me and see my zeal for 
the Lord" (2 Kings 9, 12-15) \ an d tne l° n g drive of 
Naaman from Damascus, across the level Hauran, over 
Jordan and up Jezreel, with his horses and his chariots, 
to the house of Elisha, presumably at Samaria, and 
the drive back again, and the pursuit by Gehazi ; and 
when Naaman saw one running after him he lighted 
down from his chariot to meet him (2 Kings, 5, 9). 
Contrast all this with the two meager references to 
chariot driving in Judaea — in the one case the chariot 
carried a corpse, in the other a dying man (2 Kings 
9, 28 ; 2 Chron. 35, 24) — and you get an illustration 
of the difference between the level stretches of Samaria 
and the steep, tortuous roads of her sister province. 
Perhaps the prophet intends to emphasize this contrast 
in his verse — I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, 
and the horse from Jerusalem (Zech. 9, 10). 

61. The second characteristic of Samaria is her 
central and dominant position. Jerusalem has ac- 



SAMARIA. 



153 



quired such stupendous historical importance that we 

are apt to imagine her as the natural 
central r . 

position of head and center of the land. But 

samaria. nothing comes with greater surprise 
upon the visitor to Palestine than to discover that, 
with all her advantage of defense, Jerusalem lies on a 
barren and awkward site, and that both natural and 
historical precedence have to be given, not to Mount 
Zion and the city of David, but to Mount Ebal and 
Mount Gerizim, with Shechem between them. On 
this pass right across Samaria, from the coast to the 
Jordan, and just where it pierces the water-shed, with 
Ebal on one side and Gerizim on the other, Shechem 
lies at the parting of the waters, some of its fountains 
flowing seawards, the rest toward Jordan. To-day 
Shechem is the seat of the government of the province, 
and also the connecting link of the telegiaph systems 
of the east and west of Jordan. 

It is therefore in full harmony with the geograph- 
ical data that the story of the patriarchs brings both 
Abraham and Jacob, on their entrance into the Prom- 

hisxoricaiv ised Land, at once to Shechem 
proofs. ( Gen# I2> 6and 33? l8 ^ and that 

the book of Deuteronomy selects Ebal and Gerizim as 
the scene of a great inaugural service by all Israel on 
taking possession of the country. After the disrup- 
tion of Israel, the natural attractiveness and central 
position of Shechem were not found to atone for her 
weakness as a fortress, and she soon ceased to be the 
capital of the Northern Kingdom. It was to the sect 



154 



THE HOLY LAND. 



of the Samaritans that the district owed its claim to 
be considered the religious center of the land. 

During our Lord's ministry, Samaria extended 
from the edge of Esdraelon to the Wady Ishar, and 
Wady Farah, and from the Jordan to the edge of the 
Maritime Plain, where it touched heathen territory. 
To go through Samaria, therefore, our Lord and His 
disciples had only some twenty-three miles to cover; 
while if they wished to avoid Samaria and all other 
unclean soil in passing from Galilee to Judaea, they 
had to cross the Jordan north of Bethshan, come 
down through the hot Jordan valley, and recross by 
one of the fords at the Wady Farah, or between this 
and Jericho (Mark, 10). 

62. The fortresses of Samaria lay upon the passes 
which draw up to her center, built upon high, isolated 
knolls, which are so frequent a feature in her scenery. 
Of these the chief was that which was so long the 
Capital, and gave its name to the whole kingdom. 
The head of Ephraim is Samaria (Isaiah, 7, 9). 

This is to dethrone Shechem, the earliest capital 
of the land, the place to which the government has 
gravitated again and again, and on which it rests 
weakness of to-day. But Shechem is no fortress. 
shechem. The natural center of the land, well 
furnished with water, and attracting also by its sacred 
association, the site is, nevertheless, incapable of 
defense. This was discovered by Jeroboam himself, 
for even in his reign we find the court at Tirzah (1 
Kings 14, 17), a strong position by the head of one of 



SAMARIA. 



the eastern passes. Tirzah was retained by the fol- 
lowing dynasty, but when the next usurper, Omri, had 
time to shape his policy, he turned westward, and 
chose him a virgin site in that valley which leads down 
from Shechem to the coast, the present Wady esh 
Shair, or Barley Vale. Here, in a wide basin, formed 
by a bend of the vale and an incoming glen, rises 
a round, isolated hill, over three hundred feet high. 
It was not already a city, but probably as it is to-day, 
covered with soil and arable to the top. Omri forti- 
fied it and called it Shomeron, the Watch Tower. 
The name is obviously appropriate. Although the 
mountains surround and overlook it on three sides, 
Samaria commands a great view to the west. The 
broad vale is visible for eight miles, then a low range 
of hills and over them the sea. It was wisely chosen 
by a dynasty whose strength was alliance with Phoe- 
nicia. The coast is but twenty-three miles away, the 
sea is in sight. In her palace in Samaria, Jezebel can 
have felt as far off, neither her home nor the symbols 
of her ancestral faith. There flashed the path of her 
father's galleys and there each night her people's god 
sank to his rest in the same glory betwixt sea and sky, 
which they were worshipping in Tyre. 

But the position has other advantages than its 
western exposure. Before the invention of gunpow- 
der, it must have been almost impregnable. The 
sieges of Samaria were, therefore, always prolonged. 
In Elisha's day there was the blockade by the Syrians, 
when, behold, they besieged it, until an ass' head was 



1 5 6 



THE HOLY LAND. 



sold for four-score shekels, and the fourth part of a kab 
of a dove's dung for five (2 Kings 6, 

ITS SIEGES. . ,1 a • 

25). Even the Assyrians did not cap- 
ture the town until after an investment of three years, 
723-721. In 331, it yielded to Alexander the Great, 
who visited it on his way back from Egypt, in order to 
punish the Samaritan murderers of the governor he had 




CHURCH OF ST. JOHN. 



appointed over Coele Syria. The Roman Emperor Au- 
gustus gave Samaria to Herod, who built a large port 
at Caesarea, with roads from the coast to the interior. 
Herod fortified and embellished Samaria in honor of 
his patron, and a temple to Caesar arose where there 
had been a temple to Baal. Herod called it Sebaste, 
the Greek for Augusta, and it is this name which has 



SAMARIA. 



157 



survived till now with the remains of his splendid 
colonnades and gateways. The Herodian town prob- 
ably covered and overflowed the large hill ; it is said 
to have been not less than two and a half miles in cir- 
cumference. Herod settled in it a number of veterans, 
and used it also as a recruiting-ground for mercenary 
troops. The Crusaders built a great Gothic cathe- 
dral, the church of St. John, whose ruins stand by the 
columns of Herod. But now the town has sunk to a 
miserable village. For as long as there ruled in the 
land a power with no interests toward the coast and 
the sea, Samaria was forced to yield again to the 
more central Shechem the supremacy which Ahab and 
Herod, with their western obligation, had stolen from 
Shechem to give her. To-day, amid the peaceful 
beauty of the scene — the secluded vale covered with 
cornfields, through which the winding streams flash 
and glisten into the hazy distance, it is possible to 
appreciate Isaiah's name for Samaria, the crown of 
pride of Ephraim, the flower of his glorious beauty 
which is on the head of the fat valley (Isa. 28, 1). 
Only the more hard is it to realize how often such a 
landscape became the theater of war and of the worst 
passions of tyranny and religious strife. 

Sinister fate to have belonged both to Ahab and 
to Herod! There by the entrance of the gate Ahab 
drew his sentence of death from the prophet of Jeho- 
vah; and there they washed his blood from his chariot, 
when they brought him back to his burial (1 Kings 
20). There Jezebel slew the prophets of Jehovah, and 



158 THE HOLY LAND. 

Jehu the priests of Baal (1 Kings 18, 13; 2 Kings, 
10, 17). There Herod married Mariamne, and when 
_ in his jealousy he had slain her for 

THB CITY OF . 

ahab and nothing, there she haunted him, till 
in his remorse he would frequently 
call for her, and lament for her in a most indecent 
manner; and he was so far overcome of his passion 
that he would command his servants to call for Mari- 
amne, as if she were still alive and could still hear 
them. There, too, he strangled his two sons. Like 
most of Herod's magnificent palaces, Sebaste was but 
a family shambles. It is not without fitness that a 
tradition, otherwise unjustified, should have localized 
in this place of blood the execution of John the Bap- 
tist. The church was dedicated to him, and his tomb 
is still pointed out in the rock beneath. 

63. On the road from Shechem to Joppa — part 
of which runs along one of the natural frontiers 
between Samaria and the south — there is no town of 
commanding natural strength, except El Jit, and 
nothing near has ever been identified with any famous 
the shechem- name of Bible history. The other 

joppa road, great road from Sharon up the 
southern frontier of Samaria to Bethel passes nothing 
of importance till at the junction with the Shechem- 
Bethel road in the extreme southwest corner, where 
lies Jufna. Jufna is without doubt the Gophna of 
Josephus. It was head of a toparchy in Judaea. Judas 
Maccabeus fell back on Gophna after his defeat by 
Antiochus Epiphanes; and it was occupied both by 



SAMARIA. 



159 



Vespasian, in his blockade of Judaea, and by Titus in 
his advance on Jerusalem. Whether Paul was taken 
to Caesarea by this way or by Beth-horon is uncertain. 
The southern frontier of Samaria was defended by 
Bethel, and by the city of Ephron. Now passing 
round upon the eastern flank of Samaria, the passes 
do not seem to have been protected by fortresses, as 
the Kings of Israel held both sides of the Jordan and 
built their fortresses to the east of it, like Jeroboam's 
Penuel, and Ahab's Ramoth. There were several 
forts guarding the northeast, Bezek and Taanath-Shi- 
loh (Josh. 16, 6). 

On the northern frontier the fortresses were of 
still greater importance. We have seen that from the 
Plain of Esdraelon there leads southward into the very 
heart of the province a succession of open plains, con- 
nected by easy passes. This makes a wide avenue 
into both Samaria and Judaea, and it has an issue to 
Sharon as well as to Esdraelon. It is called in the 
book of Judith, the Anabaseis of the hill-country. 
The same book mentions three fortresses, Geba, 
Dothan and Bethulia. At the mouth of the pass that 
leads from Esdraelon lay Engannin, the present Jenin. 
This was never a fortress, for it is strong only in 
water, and it was the frontier town between the later 
Samaria and Galilee. Seven miles north of Jenin, 
across the plain, on a cape of Gilboa with a view that 
sweeps Esdraelon east and west, stood Jezreel. It 
was built by the same dynasty that built Samaria, 
and like Samaria, lay convenient to their alliance to 



i6o 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Phoenicia. Jezreel also covered the highways from 
the coast to Jordan and from Egypt to Damascus 
(i Kings, 1 8, 45). 

64. As you look from Jezreel eastward, there is 
visible in the distance down Esdraelon another fortress, 
* Bethshan, the position of which, 

BETHSHAN. _ . i- , • 

and its peculiar relation to the prov- 
ince of Samaria, and to the whole of western Palestine, 
demands some description. The broad Vale of Jezreel 
comes gently down between Gilboa and the hills of 
Galilee. Three miles after it has opened round Gilboa 
to the south, but is still guarded by the northern hills, 
it suddenly drops over a bank some three hundred 
feet high into the valley of the Jordan. This bank, 
or lip, which runs north and south for nearly five 
miles, is cut by several streams falling eastward in nar- 
row ravines, in which the black basalt lies bare, as the 
water breaks noisily over it. Near the edge of the 
lip, and between two of the ravines, rises a high, 
commanding mound that was once the citadel of Beth- 
shan. The position is one of great strength and of 
immense prospect. The eye sweeps over from four to 
ten miles of plain all round, follows the road west- 
ward to Jezreel, covers the thickets of the Jordan 
where the fords lie, and ranges the edge of the eastern 
hills from Gadara to the Jabbok. It is< almost the 
farthest-seeing, farthest-seen fortress in the land, and 
it lies in the main passage between eastern and west- 
ern Palestine. Bethshan ought to have been to 
Samaria what Jericho was to Judaea — a cover to the 



SAMARIA. 



161 



fords of the Jordan, and a key the passes westward. 
But there is this difference: while Jericho lies well up 
to the Judsean hills, and has no strength apart from 
them, Bethshan is isolated, and strong and fertile 
enough to stand alone. Alone it has stood, less 
often an outpost of Western Palestine than a point 
of vantage against it. The one event by which this 
town becomes vivid in the Old Testament — the hang- 
ing of the bodies of Saul and Jonathan upon its walls 
— is but a symbol of the standing menace and insult 
it proved to Israel, from its proud position across the 
plain. In the earlier history Bethshan sustained a 
colony of Canaanites in the midst of Israel's territory; 
in the latter it belonged neither to Samaria nor to 
Galilee, but was a free city, chief of the league of 
Decapolis, with an alien and provoking population. 
In all its long history, it was Jewish for only thirty 
years, and gladly welcomed Pompey, who made it free 
again. Many other successful invaders, to whom it 
had willingly opened its doors, used it as a base of 
operations against the land which it ought to have 
defended — for example, Antiochus the Great, and 
Vespasian. Its capture by the Moslems in 634 A. D., 
settled the fate of Western Palestine. In 11 87 the 
Crusaders left Bethshan to its fate, and thereby sealed 
their own. From its position on the high road from 
Damascus to Egypt, Bethshan must have seen many 
other sights and persons of great name in history. 
Josephus says that in his time Bethshan — then called 
Scythololis — was the largest city of the Decapolis. Its 
11 



l62 



THE HOLY LAND. 



territory was wide and rich. The ruins remaining 
attest a high degree of wealth and culture. Several 
temples have been traced, and there is a large amphi- 
theater, of which so much is still preserved that it 
requires little effort to summon up about you, as you 
stand in the arena, the throng and passion of the city 
in its Greek days. No Christian can stand among 
these ruins without remembering that during the per- 
secution of Decius and Diocletian the amphitheaters 
of Syria were used for the slaughter of the confessors 
of Christ. 




PENTATEUCH. 



CHAPTER XI. 



GALILEE. 

65. This name, which binds together so many of 
the most holy memories of our race, means in itself 
the name nothing more than the ring. Galil, 

gamine. as the easily slipping words testify, 
is anything that rolls, or is round. It is used of balls 
or rings (Esther 1, 6), or the leaf of a door turning on 
its hinge (1 Kings 6, 34). Like our circuit, it was 
applied, geographically, to any well-defined region, as, 
for example, the region east of Jerusalem, which Eze- 
kiel calls the Galilee, or to the Galilees of the Jordan, 
or to the Galilees of the Philistines. How it came to 
be the peculiar title of one district, and take rank 
among the most significant names of the world, was as 
follows : Galilee of the Gentiles was applied to the 
northern border of Israel, which was pressed and per- 
meated from three sides by foreign tribes. Thence the 
name gradually spread, till in Isaiah's time it was as 
far south as the Lake of Gennesaret (Isa. 9, 11). By 
the time of the Maccabees it had reached the Plain of 
Esdraelon, and covered the whole of the most north- 
erly of the three provinces into which, after the Exile, 
the land west of Jordan was divided. 

The population remained far more Gentile than 
before. The Jews who settled in Galilee after the 
return from Babylon were few, and about 164 B. C, 

163 



164 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Simon Maccabeus had to bring them all back to Judaea. 
But the extension of the Jewish state under John 
Hyrcanus, 135-105 B. C, must have 

THIS PEOPI^. ii 1 T 

enabled many Jews to return to 
the attractive province without fear of persecution, 
and either that monarch or his successor added Galilee 
to his domains, and sought to enforce the law upon its 
inhabitants. Very soon afterwards, in 104, Galilee 
had developed a loyalty to the Jewish state sufficient 
to throw off a strong invader. From this time onwards 
it was, therefore, natural to drop out of her name the 
words, of the Gentiles, which were before this time not 
always used, but the definite article was retained, and 
throughout the New Testament she was known as The 
Galilee. It was, we can understand, pleasing to the 
patriotism of her proud inhabitants to call their famous 
and beautiful province The Region. 

The natural boundaries of Galilee are obvious. 
South, the Plain of Esdraelon, the southern and not 
TH ^ the northern edge of the Plain ; 

boundaries, north, the great gorge of the Litany 
cutting off Lebanon; east, the valley of the Jordan and 
the Lake of Gennesaret, and west, the narrow Phoeni- 
cian coast. This region coincides pretty closely with 
the territory of four tribes — Issachur, Zebulon, Asher 
and Naphtali. But the sea-coast, claimed for Zebulon 
and Asher, never belonged either to them or to the 
province of Galilee ; it was always Gentile. On the 
other hand, owing to the weakness of the Samaritans, 
Carmel was reckoned to Galilee when it was not in the 



GALILEE. 165 

hands of the men of Tyre ; and the eastern shores of 
Gennesaret also fell within the province. Exclusive 
of these two additions, Galilee measured about fifty 
miles north to south, and from twenty-five to thirty- 
five east and west. The area was only about 1,600 
square miles. 

66. From the intricacy of its highlands, the map 
of Galilee seems at first impossible to arrange to the 
eye. But with a little care, the ruling features are dis- 
tinguished, and the whole province 

DIVISIONS. fe ... r 

falls into four divisions. There is the 
Jordan Valley with its two lakes along the east, sinking 
from Hermon's base to more than 700 feet below the 
level of the ocean opposite Bethshan. From this valley, 
and corresponding roughly to its three divisions, below 
the lake of Tiberias, the lake itself, and above the 
lake, three belts or strips run westward ; first, the 
Plain 'of Esdraelon ; second, the so-called Lower 
Galilee, a series of long parallel ranges, all below 
1,850 feet, which, with broad valleys between them, 
cross from the plateau above Tiberias to the maritime 
plains of Haifa and Accho ; and, third, Upper Galilee, 
a series of plateaus with a double water-parting, and 
surrounded by hills from 2,000 to 4,000 feet. As you 
gaze north from the Samarian border, these three 
zones rise in steps one above another to the beginnings 
of Lebanon ; and from the northeast, over the gulf 
of Jordan, the snowy head of Hermon looks down 
across them. 

The controlling feature of Galilee is her relation to 



1 66 THE HOLY LAND. 

the great mountains. Hosea has aptly described this 
in the picture which he gives of God's grace. It will 

hermon's in- be as the dew unto Israel. He shall 
fi/uence. blossom as the lily, and cast forth 
his roots like Lebanon. Galilee is literally the casting 
forth of the roots of Lebanon. As the supports of a 
great oak run up above ground, so the gradual hills 
of Galilee rise from Esdraelon and Jordan and the 
Phcenican coast, upon that tremendous northern 
mountain. It is not Lebanon, however, but the 
opposite range of Hermon, which dominates the view 7 . 
Among his own roots Lebanon is out of sight ; whereas 
that long glistening ridge, that stands aloof, always 
brings the eye back to itself. In summer, hot har- 
vesters from every field lift their hearts to Hermon's 
snow ; and the heavy dews of night they call his gift. 
How closely Hermon was identified with Galilee, is 
seen from his association with the most characteristic 
of the Galilean hills ; Tabor and Hermon rejoice in 
Thy name (Psalms 89, 12). 

To her dependence upon the Lebanons Galilee owes 
her water and her immense superiority to both Judaea 
and Samaria in fruitfulness. This 

WATER. 

is not because Galilee has a greater 
rainfall — her excess in that respect is slight, and dur- 
ing the dry season showers are almost as unknow r n 
as in the rest of Palestine. But the moistures, seen 
and unseen, wnic h the westerly w T inds lavish on 
the Lebanons, are stored by them for Galilee's 
sake, and dispensed to her with unfailing regularity 



GALILEE. 



167 



all round the year. They break out in the full-born 
rivers of the upper Jordan valley and in the wealth 
of wells among her hills. At a time when Judaea 
is dry, they feed the streams of Gennesaret and 
Esdraelon. In winter the springs of Kishon burst so 
richly from the ground, that the great plain about 
Tabor is a quagmire ; even in summer there are fount- 
ains in Esdraelon, round which the thickets keep green; 
and in the glens running up to Lower Galilee the paths 
cross rivulets, and sometimes wind round a marsh. 
In fact the difference in this respect between Galilee 
and Judaea, is just the difference between their names, 
the one liquid and musical like her running waters, 
the other dry and dead like the sound of your horse's 
hoof, on her hard and blistered rock. 

So much water means exuberant fertility. Tabor 
is covered with bushes, and, on its northern side, with 
large groves of forest trees. The road which goes up 
from the Bay of Accho to Nazareth 

FERTILITY. . , j, f 1 ' • j 1 

winds among woods 01 oak, with an 
abundance of flowers and grass. Often, indeed, the 
limestone breaks out bare and dusty as in Judaea itself, 
but over most of Lower Galilee there is a profusion of 
trees, and in the valleys olive orchards and fields of 
grain. Upper Galilee also is an undulating table-land, 
arable and everywhere well tilled, with swelling hills 
in view all round, covered with shrubs and trees. 
Above Tyre there is a great plateau sloping westward. 
Throughout the province olives are so abundant that 



i68 



THE HOLY LAND. 



a proverb runs, It is easier to raise a legion of olives 
in Galilee than to bring up a child in Jerusalem. 

Asher, his bread is fat. 

And he yieldeth the dainties of a king. 

Blessed be Asher above children, 

And let him dip his foot in oil! 

O Naphtali, satisfied with favor, 

And full of the blessing of Jehovah (Deut. 33, 
23-24). 

On these broad heights, open to the sunshine and the 
breeze, life is free and exhilarating. Naphtali is as a 
hind let loose (Gen. 49, 21). This beautiful figure 
fully expresses the feelings which are bred by health, 
the spaciousness, the high freedom and the glorious 
outlook of Upper Galilee. The history of Galilee has 
no intervals of silence or of loneliness; the noise of a 
close and busy life is always audible; and to every 
crisis crowds immediately swarm. 

67. The nature of the people was volcanic like 
her geologic formations. Hot sulphur springs flow by 
Tiberias, and the whole province has been shaken by 
earthquakes; the most recent was that in 1837, which 
a fibry overthrew the walls of Tiberias, and 

populace. killed so large a number of the pop- 
ulation of Safed and other towns. They had an ill 
fame for quarreling. We remember two Galileans 
who wished to call down fire from heaven on those 
who were only discourteous to them (Luke 9, 54). 
Yet this inner fire was an essential of manhood. It 
burns the meanness out of men, and can flash forth 



GALILEE. 



169 



in great passions for righteousness. From first to 
last the Galileans were a chivalrous and gallant race. 
Zebulon was a people jeoparding their life to the 
death, and Naphtali on the high places of the field 
(Judges 5, 18). With the same desperate zeal, their 
sons attempted the forlorn hope of breaking the 
Roman power. The Galileans, according to the Tal- 
mud, were more anxious for honor than for money; 
the contrary was true of Judaea. For this cause also 
our Lord chose his friends from this people; and it was 
not a Galilean who betrayed him; it was the only 
Judaean among the twelve. 

When we turn from the physical characteristics of 
this province of the subterranean fires and waters to 
her political geography, we find influences as bold 
and inspiring as those we have noticed. We may 
select three as the chief — the neighborhood of classic 
scenes of Hebrew history; the great world-roads 
which cross Galilee; the surrounding heathen civiliza- 
tions. 

68. It is often taken for granted that the Galilee 
of our Lord's day was a new land with an illegitimate 
people, without history, without tradition, without 
prophetic succession. This notion is inspired by such 
proverbs as, Search and see, for out of Galilee 
cometh no prophet. Can any good come out of Naz- 
areth ? " But these utterances were due to the spitfire 
pride of Judaea, that had contempt for the coarse dia- 
lect of the Galileans, and for their intercourse with 
the heathen. The province, it is true, had been 



i;o 



THE HOLY LAND. 



under the law for only a little more than a century. 
Her customs and laws, even on such important mat- 
ters as marriage and intercourse with the heathen, her 
coins and weights, her dialect, were all sufficiently 
different from those of Judaea to excite popular sen- 
timent in the latter, and provide the scribes with some 
quotable reasons for their hostility. But then Galilee 
had much reason to resent the scorn of Judaea. 

Behind the Exile, Galilee had tra- 

SACRED SOII,. 

ditions, a prophetic succession, and 
a history almost as splendid as Judah's own. She 
was not out of the way of the great scenes of former 
days. Carmel, Kishon, Megiddo, Jezreel, Gilboa, 
Shunem, Tabor, Gilead, Bashan, the waters of Merom, 
Hazor and Kadesh, were all within touch or sight. 
She shared with Judaea even the exploits of the Mac- 
cabees. By Gennesaret was Jonathan's march, by 
Merom the scene of his heroic rally, when his forces 
were in flight, and of his great victory. On the other 
side, at Accho, was his treacherous capture, the begin- 
ning of his martyrdom. Galilee, therefore, lived as 
openly as Judaea in face of the glories of the people. 
Her latent fires had everywhere visible provocation. 
The foot of the invader could tread no league of her 
soil without starting the voices of fathers who had 
labored and fought for her, without reaw r aking prom- 
ises which the greatest prophets had lavished upon 
her future. 

Consider the preparation which all this must have 
effected for the ministry of our Lord. That the 



GALILEE. 



171 



Messianic tempers were stronger in Galilean than in 
any other Jewish hearts is most certain. While 
Judaea's religion had for its characteristic a zeal for the 
law, Galilee's was distinguished by the nobler, the 
more potential passion of hope. Therefore it was to 
Galilee that Jesus came preaching that the kingdom 
of Heaven is at hand; it was the Galilean patriotism 
that he chose to refine to diviner issues. Among the 
Jews to-day, Galilee has as many holy places as Judaea, 
and Safed and Tiberias are reverenced along with 
Hebron and Jerusalem. This was brought about by 
the movements of the Sanhedrim. After the defeat 
of the last Jewish revolt at Bettir (134 A. D.), the 
Sanhedrim migrated north from Jabneh in the Philis- 
tine plain to Oshah, just north of Carmel, and thence 
gradually eastward across Lower Galilee to unclean 
and cursed Tiberias. Here the last Sanhedrim sat, 
and the Mishna was edited. Here is the tomb of 
Maimonides. 

69. The next great features of Galilee are her 
roads. This garden of the Lord is crossed by many of 
the world's most famous highways. 

HIGHWAYS. T , . 1 j . , 

Judaea was on the road to nowhere ; 
Galilee is covered with roads to everywhere — roads 
from the harbors of the Phoenician coast to Samaria, 
Gilead, Hauran and Damascus ; roads from Sharon to 
the Valley of the Jordan ; roads from the sea to the 
desert ; roads from Egypt to Assyria. They were not 
confined to Esdraelon and the Jordan valley. They 
ran over Lower Galilee by its long parallel valleys, and 



172 



THE HOLY LANE). 



even crossed the high plateau of Upper Galilee on the 
shortest direction frdm Tyre to Damascus. A review 
of these highways will immensely enhance our appre- 
ciation of Galilee's history. They can be traced by 
the current lines of traffic, by the great Khans which 
still exist in use or in ruin, and by the remains of Roman 
pavements. 

From the earliest times to the present, a great 
thoroughfare had connected Damascus with the sea. 
Its direction has varied from age to age, according to 
political circumstances. The port of Damascus was 
sometimes at Tripoli, sometimes at Beyrout, some- 
times Sidon or Tyre, sometimes Accho with Haifa. 
But, between Damascus and the first three of these 
rises the double range of Lebanon ; the roads have 
twice over to climb many thousands of feet. To Tyre 
again the road must first compass Hermon to Banias 
or Hasbeya, and then cross the heights of Naphtali. 
This road was commanded by two crusading castles, 
now in ruins, at Hunin and at Tibnin. Accho alone 
was the natural port for Damascus, and the nearest 
way to Accho runs through Lower Galilee. Leaving 
Damascus the highway kept to the south of Hermon, 
upon the level region now called Jedur, and crossed 
the Jordan midway between the lakes of Merom and 
Gennesaret at the present bridge of the Daughters of 
Jacob. Thence it climbed to the Khan, called "of 
the pit of Joseph," and divided. One branch held 
west past Safed, by the line of valley between Lower 
and Upper Galilee, and came down by the Wady 



GALILEE. 



173 



Waziyeh upon Accho. Another branch went south to 
1 he Lake of Gennesaret at Khan Minyeh — one of the 
probable sites of Capernaum — and there forked again. 
One prong bent up the Plain of Gennesaret and the 
Wady Rubadiyeh, to rejoin the direct western branch 
at Rameh. Another left the Plain of Gennesaret up 
the famous Wady el Haman by Arbela to the plateau 
above Tiberias, and thence passing the great Khan 
" of the merchants" defiled between Tabor and the 
Nazareth hills upon Esdraelon, which it crossed to 
Megiddo, on the way to Sharon, to Philistia, to Egypt. 
A third branch from Kahn Minyeh continued due south 
by the Laka of Tiberias to Bethshan, from which the 
traveler might either ascend Esdraelon and rejoin the 
straight route to Egypt, or go up through Samaria to 
Jerusalem, or down Jordan to Jericho. But at Beth- 
shan, or a little to the north of it, there came across 
Jordan another great road from Damascus. It had 
traversed the level Hauran and come down into the 
valley of the Jordan, by Aphek or by Gamala, and it 
went over to the Mediterranean either by Bethshan 
and Esdraelon, or up the Wady Fejjas to the plateau 
above the lake, and thence by the cross valley past 
Cana and Sepphoris to Accho. 

The great west road from Damascus to the Medi- 
terranean, in one or other of its branches, was the 
the way famous Way of the Sea. It may 

of the sea. have been so called by Isaiah when 
he heard along it the grievous march of the Assyrian 
armies, by way of the sea over Jordan, Galilee of 



174 



THE HOLY LAND. 



the nations. The Romans paved it and took taxes 
from 'its traffic; at one of its tolls, in Capernaum, 
Matthew sat at the receipt of custom (Mark 2, 14). 
It was then the great route of trade with the far East, 
and it continued to be so. The commerce of Damas- 
cus has at present an easier way to Beyrout by the 
splendid road which the French engineers built 
across the Lebanons; but the Way of the Sea is still 
used for the considerable exports on camel-back of 
grain from Hauran. 

The great south road, the road for Egypt, which 
diverged from The Way of the Sea at the Lake of Gali- 
lee, was used equally for traffic and for war from the 
days of the patriarchs down to our own. From Abra- 
ham's time, every year that war was not afoot, camels 
have passed by this road to Egypt. How ancient the 
traffic! The great road of the East, from Accho 
across Lower Galilee to Bethshan, and over the Jor- 
dan into Gilead, was the road for Arabia. Up it have 
come through all ages, the Midianites, the children of 
the East. In the Roman period it connected the 
Asian frontier with the capital. Chariots, military 
troops, companies of officials and merchants passed 
by this road, between the Greek cities east of the 
Jordan, and Ptolemais, the port for Rome. 

Of all things in Galilee, it is the sight of these 
immemorial roads that reminds one of the immortal 
figures of the parables of Christ. By them came the 
merchant man seeking goodly pearls, the king depart- 
ing to receive his kingdom, the friend on a journey, 



GALILEE. 



175 



the householder arriving suddenly upon his servants, 
the prodigal son coming back from the far-off coun- 

THE PERSONS ^ The far " 0ff C0Untr y ! What a 

of the meaning has this frequent phrase c^f 

Christ's, when you stand in Gali- 
lee by one of her great roads, roads which so easily 
carried willing feet from the pious homes of Asherand 
Naphtali to the harlot cities of Phoenicia, roads 
which were in touch with Rome and with Babylon. 

Her roads carry us out upon the surroundings 
of Galilee. In the neighborhood of Judaea we have 
seen great deserts, some of which come up almost to 
the gates of the cities, and have impressed their 
austerity and foreboding of judgment upon the feel- 
Environ- * n S s an d the literature of the people. 

me nt. The very different temperament of 

the Galilean was explained in part by his very differ- 
ent environment. The desert is nowhere even visi- 
ble from Galilee. Instead of it, the Galilee of our 
Lord's time had for neighbors the half Greek land 
of Phoenicia, with its mines and manufactures, its 
open ports, its traffic from the west; the fertile Hau- 
ran, with its frequent cities, where the Greek language 
was spoken, and the pagan people worshiped their 
old divinities under the names of the Greek gods; and 
Gilead, with the Decapolis, ten cities (more or less) 
of stately forums, amphitheaters and temples. We 
shall feel the full influence of all this upon Galilee 
when we go down to the Lake. Let us not forget 
that the environment of our Lord's Galilean ministry 



176 



THE HOLY LAND. 



was thronged and very gay, that it was Greek in all 
that the name can bring up to us of busy life, impos- 
ing art and sensuous religion. The effect upon the 
Galilean temperament is obvious. These are the 
influences which geography reveals bearing upon Gali- 
lee. We may find them all focussed in one town 
near the Lake, a town of supreme interest to us — 
Nazareth. 

Nazareth is usually represented as a secluded and 
obscure village. There is a silence in the Gospels 
concerning Christ's childhood and 

NAZARETH. & 

youth. But the value of a vision of 
the Holy Land, is that it fills the silences of the Holy 
Book, and from it we receive a very different idea 
of the early life of our Lord than has been generally 
current among us. The position of Nazareth is 
familiar to all. The village lies on the most south- 
ern of the ranges of Lower Galilee, and on the 
edge just above the Plain of Esdraelon. You can- 
not see the surrounding country from Nazareth, for 
Nazareth rests in a basin of hills ; it is necessary 
to climb the hill back of the village for the prospect. 
Here in plain sight of many of the places celebrated 
in the history of His country, the Saviour passed His 
childhood and youth. Here He was a child in one of 
these humble homes. Here He passed many years 
of toil and weariness, experiencing all human hardship 
that we might share His sympathy. The houses stand 
upon the western slope, which is quite steep and rises 
400 or 500 feet high crowned with flowers to its very 



GALILEE. 



177 



summit. Hermon with its cap of snow is in full view 
on the northeast. The encircling hills have an unusual 
picturesqueness and charm. How often must Jesus 
have climbed this height, after a hard day's work at 
the carpenter's bench, to look abroad over this bright 
prospect of mountain, valley and plain ! Often must 
He have gone to that fountain, the only lasting relic 
of Jesus in this home of His youth. Thus His charac- 
ter was matured for the great work of His public life. 




A WATER. CARRIER FROM NAZARETH. 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE JORDAN VALLEY. 

70. The third longitudinal section is the Jordan 
Valley, which is not only the most remarkable feature 
of the land of Palestine, but one of the most remark- 
able on the earth's surface. The 
the name. j - 11 , j 

name Jordan is generally traced 

from the root Jahrad, to descend or flow down. 
Probably this is correct; but whatever the meaning of 
the name as first uttered by those who gave it, un- 
doubtedly the Jordan does descend as no other river 
does. The valley through which it flows was formerly 
a continuation of the plain which lies between the 
Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon, known as Coele- 
Syria, and in scripture usually called the entrance 
of Hamath (Num. 34, 8). Some fifty miles north of 
Hermon is the water-shed of that plain in the neigh- 
borhood of Baalbec. The Orontes, gathering the 
waters of the northern part, flows far northward until 
it reaches the valley in which Antioch lies, and there 
gains an outlet to the Mediterranean; while the Leon- 
tes, or Litany, draining the southern part of the plain, 
skirts the eastern base of the Lebanon range, till it is 
south of Hermon, and then suddenly turns westward 
and falls into the sea, six miles north of Tyre. Before 
it turns westward it flows a little way parallel to the 
Hasbany, one of the branches of the Jordan, and at 

179 



i8o 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Hasbeiya the two rivers are quite close. Once, possi- 
bly, the Leontes flowed into the Jordan Valley, but, 
in what geologists call a late period, was driven back, 
and shut out by a volcanic eruption, and so forced to 
cut for itself a channel through which it now flows. 
A very slight cutting only is needed to return it to its 
old course, and unite it again with the Jordan. 

At Hasbeiya is the northernmost and smallest 
spring head of the Jordan. It is there called the 
Hasbany, and flows out of a large, clear pool, and 
then, through olive groves and oleanders, finds its way 
down into the widespreading plain at the foot of Her- 
sources of mon. The main source of the Jor- 
the jordan. (j an j s a t Banias, called in the New 
Testament Caesarea Philippi. Suddenly it burst into 
existence as a full-grown stream. It does not seem to 
flow out of the famous cave in the mountain side, but 
from under accumulated stones some 100 yards from 
it. It is like a good-sized stream running, not over, 
but from the foot of a mill-dam, with no visible stream 
above. Through a rich district, alive with water and 
beautiful with many trees, it makes its way to the 
site of Dan, now Tel-el-Kady, five miles south of 
Banias. There the Leddan rises. It is the third 
branch of the Jordan, springing also out of a great 
fountain, a full-grown stream at the beginning. The 
site of Dan is exceedingly beautiful, and must have 
always tempted dwellers to that spot. The united 
streams from Banias and Dan are thereafter joined by 
the Hasbany already named. The respective sizes of 



THE JORDAN VALLEY. 



181 



these three streams, the Jordan, the Leddan and Has- 
bany, are as ten, five and three. 

The Jordan thus formed flows on with a swift cur- 
rent and a much twisted course, through banks from 
twelve to twenty feet high, till it nears the waters of 
Merom, or Lake Huleh (Josh, n, 5-7). The mount- 




WEIJ, OF HAROD. 



WATERS OF 
MEROM. 



ains on the western side of the val- 
ley rise abruptly to a great height. 
Just a little north of Lake Huleh, on the mountain 
sits Kedesh, from ancient times a strong fortress as 
well as a sacred city. The view from this side is very 
striking. The Jordan valley is here wide and com- 
paratively flat, abundantly watered and fertile. On 
the east the land rises suddenly, and in the northeast 



182 



THE HOLY LAND. 



corner the noble Hermon rears itself to snowy heights, 
the isolated hill of Banias lying at its base crowned 
with the ruins of its once impregnable castle, and the 
road to Damascus winding up the valley which opens 
to the south of it. About six miles above Lake Huleh, 
the river loses itself in wide lagoons, and by no less 
than six different channels empties itself into the lake, 
through a papyrus-brake. In this part of its course 
the Jordan has descended nearly 1,100 feet. At 
Banias it is 1,080 feet, but at Lake Huleh only seven 
feet above sea-level. This is so nearly sea-level it 
may be conveniently spoken of, for comparison, as sea- 
level. 

The whole valley is but four miles broad at Lake 
Huleh, and the surface of the lake is four miles long; but 
marshes reach several miles northward covered with the 
most extensive papyrus growths now known. The 
river leaves the lake also through a waste of islets and 
papyrus, and after two miles plunges into a narrow 
gorge, sometimes not over eighteen feet across, through 
which as a foaming torrent it roars along for nine miles 
to the Sea of Galilee. On its western side the hills 
rise so abruptly that Safed (supposed to be referred to 
in Matt. 5, 14), though but seven or eight miles from 
the river, is 2,750 feet above sea-level. The high 
land on the eastern side is known as the Jaulan. In 
the eleven miles between Lake Huleh and the Sea of 
Galilee, the river descends so rapidly, that the level 
of the Sea of Galilee is 682 feet below sea-level, 

71. The Sea of Galilee is twelve and one-half 



THE JORDAN VALLEY. 



183 



miles long, and at its widest point eight miles across. 
the uk^ of Precipices of limestone shut it close 
Tiberias. [ n on ever y side, except at its north- 
western corner where the Plain of Gennesaret lies, and 
at the north end, where the Jordan flows in, and has 
formed a small alluvial plain. At the middle of the 
eastern bank, the Wady Hammam opens on the sea 
as a gulley, and down it sudden blasts often burst. 
On the east the coast line is very steep, the table-land 
approaching close, and dropping suddenly to the sea. 
The rocky wall thus formed is cleft by the water 
courses which drain the plateau above. On the west, 
below Tiberias, are the hot springs of the Hammam, 
the Hammam of Josh. 19, 35, one of many signs of 
the volcanic character of this region. The waters are 
abundant ; and while ordinarily from 

HOT SPRINGS. . J 

130 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, their 
temperature rose so much on occasion of the great 
earthquake of 1837, that the thermometers available 
were inadequate to register it. At that time Safed 
was left in ruins, and 1,000 of its inhabitants were 
killed. From its low level, and the form of the hills 
around it, the Sea of Galilee is peculiarly liable to be 
swept by sudden and violent storms. The shores of 
the sea, once clad with tropical luxuriance of verdure, 
are now barren and all but treeless, and except at 
Tiberias on the west, almost without inhabitants, 
though in our Lord's time encircled with a dense and 
busy population. In spring the verdure is splendid, 



1 84 



THE HOLY LAND. 



but the great heat scorches up the grass, which a 
single spark will then ignite. 

We do not realize that the greater part of our 
Lord's ministry was accomplished at what may be 
truly called the bottom of a trench, 682 feet below 
the level of the sea. As you go down into it by the 
road our Lord himself traversed from Nazareth to 



peculiarity. Two wide terraced meadows are broken 
by dykes of basalt, and strewn with lava and pumice 
stone. History here records only scenes of flight and 
thirst and exhaustion. Across their southern end 
Sisera fled headlong and sought drink for his parched 
throat in the tent of Jael (Judg. 4, 17). Here in 
Crusading times the courage of Christendom was 
scorched to the heart, so as never to rally in all 
the East again. Where the heights of Hattin offer 
neither shade nor springs, the Crusaders came forth 
to meet Saladin. A hot July night without water was 
followed by a burning day, July 5, n 87, and to add 
to the horrors, the enemy set fire to the bushes. The 
smoke swept the fevered Christians into a panic; 
knights choked in their hot armor; the blinded foot- 
soldiers, breaking their ranks and dropping their 
weapons, were ridden down in mobs by the Moslem 
cavalry; and though here and there groups of brave 
men fought sun and fire and sword far on into the 
terrible afternoon, the defeat was utter. A militant 
Christianity met its judicial end within view of the 



the HORNS 
OF HATTIN. 



Capernaum, there come up to meet 
you some signals of its wonderful 



THE JORDAN VALLEY. I 8 5 

scenes where Christ proclaimed the Gospel of peace 
and went about doing good. 

The lake lies in shape like a harp with the bulge 
to the northwest. Sweet waters full of fish, with a 
surface of sparkling blue, and breezes from the cool 
uplands, make of the lake at once food, drink and air, 
a rest to the eye, coolness in the heat, an escape from 
the crowd (Mark 6, 32), and a facility of travel very 
welcome in so exhausting a climate. Now only one 
town is visible, Tiberias, a poor, hot place of less than 
5, 000 inhabitants. Besides this there are not more 
than three or four small villages round all the coast. 
There are no farm-houses; the lights which come out 
at night on shore and hill are the camp fires of wan- 
dering Arabs. Seldom is a sail now seen on the 
surface of the lake. How very different it was in the 
days when Jesus came down from Nazareth to find 
his home and his disciples upon those shores. Where 
there are now no trees, there were then great woods; 
where there is but a boat or two, there were fleets of 
sails; where there is one town there were nine or ten. 
We know this from Josephus, who describes the prov- 
ince he governed and fought over only thirty-four 
years after our Lord's ministry, too short a time for 
the country to have changed. The Plain of Gennes- 
ancient are t a t the northwest coast had soil 

prosperity. so fruitful, that all sorts of trees 
would grow upon it, walnuts and palms and figs and 
olives. Even now one sees proofs of that luxuriance 
in the few rich patches of garden upon Gennes- 



THE HOLY LAND. 



aret, in the wealth of flowers on the surrounding 
slopes, and in the glory of fern that springs up 
wherever there is a stream to give it water and a 
ruin to give it shade. There were nine cities round 
the lake, each said to have not less than 15,000 inhab- 
itants, and some probably with more. Of these the 
sites of Tiberias and Magdala on the western shore, 
and of Gadara and Hippos on the eastern hills are 
certain. Bethsaida and Capernaum were at the north 
end, though where exactly, who can tell? Tarichsea is 
still a matter of controversy, and so is Chorazin. But 
this we do know, that whatever be the sites to which 
these names were originally attached, their towns 
formed round the now bare lake, an almost unbroken 
ring of buildings. 

Tiberias is said to occupy the site of an old Jewish 
town. Why Herod chose this site is very clear. 

There was too much commerce in 

TIBERIAS. 

Capernaum for a capital city. He 
sought a site dominated by a hill, where he could build 
a castle, yet be near the shore, and no doubt he found 
an advantage in being near the Baths, then famous 
throughout the Roman world. His plans were large ; 
ruins still indicate a wall three miles long. Besides 
the imposing citadel, there was a palace, a forum, and 
a great synagogue. There is no record that Christ 
ever visited Tiberias. No true Jew would set foot on 
a site defiled by the bones which had been uncovered 
in digging the foundations, and by the great heathen 
images which stared down from the castle walls. But 



THE JORDAN VALLEY. 



the surroundings of Tiberias, too, were repellent. 
Capernaum and Bethsaida must have been more 
healthy ; nevertheless, while Bethsaida and Caper- 
naum have passed away, Tiberias endures, and the 
name of the morbid tyrant still stamps a region from 
which that of Jesus has vanquished. But Christ went 
up these roads to rule the world. 



PI,AIN OF GENNESARET. 

North of Tiberias lay Magdala, the present Medjel 
on the Plain of Gennesaret, and Capernaum, Beth- 
the uke saida and Chorazin, upon sites which 

cities. w {\\ probably always remain matters 

of dispute. Chorazin is probably the ruins of Kera- 
seh, northwards from Tell-Hum ; Capernaum has been 
assigned both to Tell-Hum, a mile west of the issue of 
the Jordan, and also to Khan Minyeh, on the southern 
edge of Gennesaret ; but the evidence is greatly in 
favor of the latter site, for the references in the Gos- 
pels all suit Khan Minyeh. There was the home of 



188 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Jesus, there was the birth-place of the Gospel, at that 
northeast corner of fair Gennesaret, where the waves 
beat now on an abandoned shore, but where once was 
a busy town, and the great road from east to west 
poured its daily stream of life. With regard to Beth- 
saida, it has been supposed by most that the refer- 
ences in the Gospel require us to conceive of two 
places of that name. Of one of these there can be no 
doubt; Bethsaida, Fisher-Home, was the name of a 
village on the east bank of Jordan, and near the river's 
mouth, which the tetrarch Philip rebuilt and named it 
Julias, in honor of the daughter of Augustus. This is 
the Bethsaida to which Jesus withdrew on hearing of 
TWO the Baptist's death, and near which 

bethsaidas. was the desert place, described by 
John (6, 10), as on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, 
where the five thousand, who had followed Him on 
foot by the fords over Jordan, were miraculously fed. 
The level plain on the east of the Jordan, so fertile 
that some have claimed it for Gennesaret, helps us to 
understand how there was much grass in the place 
(Mark 6, 39). When the meal was over, Jesus, we 
are told, constrained his disciples to go to the other 
side before towards Bethsaida. This does not oblige 
us to look for another Bethsaida across on the west 
side of the Jordan, for the miracle may have taken 
place down the lake, and Jesus simply gave the order 
to return to Bethsaida Julias. Wherever these three 
— Capernaum, Bethsaida and Chorazin — may have 
been, the well-nigh complete obliteration of all of them 



THE JORDAN VALLEY. 



is remarkable in this, that they were the very three 
towns which our Saviour condemned to humiliation. 

Down the east coast the city of Gergesa has been 
identified with the ruins known as Khersa, at the only 
portion of that coast on which the steep hills come 
down to the shore. Hippos was the present Susiyeh, 
and Gadara looked up from the lake from the heights 
immediately south of the Yarmuk. 

In the time of our Lord, Galilee must have mir- 
rored within the outline of her guardian hills little else 
than city walls, houses, synagogues, wharves and fac- 
tories. Greek architecture hung its magnificence over 
her simple life; Herod's castle, temple and theaters in 
Tiberias; the bath-houses at Hammath; a hippodrome 
at Tarichaea; the amphitheater in 

FORMER 11. 111 i 

magnifi- Gadara, looking up the lake with 
cence. acro polis above it, and the paved 

street with its triumphal archway; the great Greek 
villas on the heights above Gadara, with a Roman 
camp or two, high enough up the slopes to catch the 
western breeze, and daily sending its troops to relieve 
guard in the cities. All this was what imposed itself 
on that simple open-air life of fields and roads and 
boats, which we see in the Gospels, so sunny and so 
free. Amid the sowing and reaping, the fishing and 
mending of nets, the journeying to and fro on foot, 
all the simple habits of the native life, do we not 
catch some shadows of that other world, which had 
grown up around it, in the crowds that are said to 
grind on one another in the narrow lanes, like grain 



190 



THE HOLY LAND. 



between mill-stones (Mark 5, 24); in the figures of 
the centurion, the publican, the demoniac crying that 
his name was Legion; in the stories of the pulling 
down of barns and the building of greater; of opulent 
householders leaving' their well-appointed villas for a 
time, with every servant in his place, and the porter 
set to watch; of market places and streets and lanes; 
in the comparison of the towns on the lake to 
great cities; Sodom and Gomorrah, Tyre and 
Sidon and Nineveh; in all the mention of the sins of 
a city (Luke 7, 37), and of Mammon, and all the 
things after which the Gentiles seek, and in the 
acknowledgment that Galilee was a place where a 
man might gain the whole world (Luke 9, 25). 

The industries of the Lake of Galilee were agricul- 
tural and fruit-growing; dyeing and tanning, with every 
department of a large carrying trade, 
but chiefly fishing, boat-building and 
fish-curing. Of the last there is no trace in the 
Gospels. The fisheries themselves were pursued by 
thousands of families. They were no monopoly, but 
the fishing grounds, best at the north end of the lake, 
where the streams entered, were free to all, and the 
trade was very profitable. 

It was in the ranks of those who pursued this free 
and hardy industry that Christ looked for his disciples. 

Not wealthy, they were yet inde- 

THB APOSTI/ES. / J J 

pendent, with no servile tempers 
about them ; and with no private or trade wrongs dis- 
adjusting their consciences. This was one of the rea- 



THE JORDAN VALLEY. 



191 



sons for which our Lord chose them. In that age it 
would have been easy to gather, as David did into 
the Cave of Adullam, all that were in debt, or in dis- 
tress or discontented, or had run away from their 
masters. But such would not have been the men to 
preach a spiritual gospel, the coming, not of a 
national, but of a universal kingdom. Christ went to 
a trade that had no private wrongs ; and called men, 
not from their dreams, but from work they were con- 
tented to do from day to day till something higher 
should touch them. And so it has come to pass that 
not the jargon of the fanatics and brigands in the high- 
lands of Galilee, but the speech of the fishermen of 
her lake, and the instruments of their simple craft, 
have become the language and symbolism of the 
world's religion. 

72. Among the rivers of the world, the Jordan is 
unique by a twofold distinction of Nature and His- 
the Jordan tory. There are hundreds of other 
unique. streams larger, more useful or more 

beautiful ; there is none which has been more spoken 
about by mankind. In influence upon the imagina- 
tion of mankind, the Nile is, perhaps, the Jordan's 
only competitor. He has drawn to his valley one 
after another of the great races of the world ; his mys- 
tery and annual miracle have impressed the mind 
equally of ancient and of modern man. But the Nile 
has never been adopted by a universal religion. To 
the fathers of human civilization that silent flood, 
which cut the land in two, across which their dead 



192 



THE HOLY LAND. 



were ferried, and the Lord Sun himself passed daily 
to his death among the desert hills, was the symbolic 
border of the next world. But who now knows this, 
who feels it, except as a fact of very ancient history ? 
Whereas, still to half the world, the short, thin thread 
of the Jordan is the symbol of both great frontiers of the 
spirit's life on earth — the baptism through which it 
passes into God's church, and the waters of death which 
divide this pilgrim fellowship from the promised land. 
There may be something on the surface of another 
planet to match the Jordan valley ; there is nothing 
on this, nothing else like this deep, this colossal ditch. 
Geologists tell us that when these regions were cov- 
ered with water, from which the granite peaks of 
geoi,ogicai, Sinai alone protruded, great deposits 
formation. Q f li me stone were laid upon that old 
ocean bed. Under a pressure from east and west the 
limestone rose above the water in long folds, running 
north and south. Two of these folds are now the 
ranges on either side of the Jordan valley, but the val- 
ley is due, not only to their elevation, but also to a 
violent rupture of the strata between them. This 
4 ' Fault " is not confined to that portion of the valley 
which is beneath the sea-level ; it extends all the way 
from northern Syria, to the gulf of Akaba, or two hun- 
dred and fifty miles. Then there followed a period of 
great rains with perpetual snow and glaciers on 
Lebanon, during which the valley was filled with 
fresh water. How the valley passed from that con- 



THE JORDAN VALLEY. 



193 



dition to its present state is not clear, perhaps, by 
sudden convulsion due to volcanic disturbance. 

At the south end of the lake, the ribbon of coast 
widens and the Jordan cuts through it, striking at first 



Jordan valley leaves a wide prospect from the lake 
southward, that is closed only by the cliffs of the gorge 
to which it narrows twenty miles away. The fall for 
some distance is at the rate of forty feet for each mile. 
Its first important affluent is the Yarmuk, or Hiero- 
max, which comes from the east with the water of the 
Hauran, and which, after passing the ruins of the ancient 
Gadara, joins the Jordan four miles below its outflow 
from the sea. From the Lake of Galilee to the Dead 
Sea the Jordan valley is sixty-five miles long, and 
though the windings of the river are at no time very far 
from the straight line, yet these are so numerous that 
the actual course of the river bed from the Sea of 
Galilee to the Salt Sea measures nearly 200 miles. 
When about half way to the Dead Sea it is joined by 
the waters of the Jabbok, or Wady el Zerka, which 
comes from the east through the mountains of Gilead ; 
and almost opposite to it, on the west, the waters 
which rise about Shechem and Enon pour down the 
Wady Ferah. Instead of running out eastward direct 
into the Jordan, the Farah flows some five or six miles 



SOUTH OF 
GAI/II,EK. 



due west, and then south by the foot 
of the hills. Four miles broad, the 




bly. Generally speaking, it widens as it descends, 



194 



THE HOLY LAND. 



For the first dozen miles it is scarcely five miles across. 
Where the Plain of Esdraelon joins it, it is about eight 
miles wide, and there Abel-meholah lies embayed south 
of the Jalud. Ten miles south of Bethshan the Sama- 
rian hills press eastward, and for the next thirteen the 
river runs closely by their feet, and the valley is three 
miles wide. Again the Samarian hills withdraw, and 
the valley widens first to eight miles and then gradu- 
ally to fourteen, which is the breadth at Jericho. We 
have, then, between Galilee and the Dead Sea, a long 
narrow vale, twice expanding — at Bethshan and at 
Jericho — to the dimensions of a plain. A large part 
of this valley is of exuberant fertility. The heat is 
that of a hot-house ; wherever water comes the flow- 
ers rise to the knee, and grass often to the shoulder. 
Swamps abound, and there is much malaria. Most 
rivers in valleys so wide and well-w r atered mean the 
presence of great cities or at least of much cultivation. 
why unin- But the valley of the Jordan never 
habited. seems to have been a populous place. 
Why, then, have towns always been so few in the 
valley, and why has it so much deserved the name of 
wilderness ? The reasons are three. From early 
spring to late autumn the heat is intolerable and 
parches all vegetation not constantly watered. Again, 
in ancient times the valley was infested with wild 
beasts. Driven from the peopled hills, their covert 
and stronghold was the jungle of the Jordan (2 Kings 
17, 25). A still more serious hindrance was the fre- 
quency with which it was overrun by the Arabs. We 
must, therefore, seek for the role of this valley in his- 



THE JORDAN VALLEY. 



195 



tory in another direction than that along which its 
possible fertility points us. We find it in two direc- 
tions. 

73. The Jordan was a border and barrier. We 
haVe seen how the river itself tells us this by the 
depth of its valley, its unuseful, unlovely course, its 
muddy banks and their jungle. The Psalmist hears 
in it no music (Ps. 42, 6); the prophet speaks only of 
its rankness and danger (Jer. 12, 5); it excites the 

ridicule of those who know its sis- 

A BARRIER. , , 

ter Syrian rivers (2 Kings 4); the 
exiles by Babel's streams think not upon Jordan's rush 
of water, but upon the arid Jerusalem (Ps. 137); and 
when a symbol is needed of the water of life, the 
Psalmist ignores his country's only river, and floods 
for his purpose, the dry bed of the Kedron (Ps. 46). 
Jordan was only a boundary, a line to traverse, and, 
in nearly all of the texts in which the name occurs, it 
is governed by a preposition, unto, over, across. 
Such a frontier had no especial military value. It 
was never a line of defense. Perhaps its mission did 
not consist so much in shutting out the tribes of the 
east, as in giving to such of them as drifted over, a 
visible and impressive reason why they should not 
return. Its effect was thus not military but moral. 

74. Jordan has been associated with the figures of 
two of Israel's greatest prophets, Elijah and John the 
Baptist. We are not to be surprised that as his 
end approached Elijah should feel himself driven 
towards that border, across which he had first burst 
so mysteriously upon Israel (1 Kings 17,1), and to 



196 



THE HOLY LAND. 



which he had withdrawn while waiting for his word to 
accomplish itself. Stage by stage he came down from 
the high center of the land to its low- 
est lonely valley (2 Kings 2). At each 
stage Elisha said: 4 'As the Lord liveth I will not leave 
thee." So these two, leaving the sons of the prophets 
behind, passing down as planets pass to their setting 
through the groups of lesser stars, came to the Jordan. 
In front there was no promised land visible, behind 
nothing but that single follower; and so the end came. 
The river that had drawn back at a nation's feet, 
parted at the stroke of one man. He passed away 
suddenly as he had come, seen by one only to whom 
he left his spirit. Jordan, that had owned the people 
of God, now owns the Prophet. 

What a congenial clime for the ministry of that 
other Elijah, John the Baptist! Here he found the 
joh^ the * wo rec l ms ites, solitude and water. 

baptist. Here also those vivid figures of his 
preaching: The ax laid to the roots (Matt. 3, 10); the 
stones to raise up as children of Abraham; the fires 
chasing before them the scorpions and the vipers 
(Matt. 3, 9). Here Elisha bade Naaman to bathe 
his leprousy away. John called on Israel to be bap- 
tized in token of repentance. Where Elijah be- 
queathed his spirit upon his successor, John cried 
There cometh He that is mightier than I; He shall 
baptize you with the Holy Ghost (Matt. 3, 11). And 
so what was never a great Jewish river has become a 
very great Christian one. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



EASTERN PALESTINE. 

75. The fourth and last longitudinal section of the 
land is the mountain range and plateau lying beyond 
the Jordan, and spreading out on 
the eastwards. It is the prolonga- 
tion of the Anti-Lebanon. At the north rises Hermon, 
almost attaining the line of perpetual snow, its actual 
height being 9,200 feet. Hermon is by some inter- 
preted as " the lofty," by others as "the sanctuary." 
The difference will not appear so great when it is 
remembered that every high mountain was a holy 
place. This mountain had also the name of Sirion 
among the Phoenicians, apparently from its glittering 
as a breast-plate. The Amorites, impressed by the 
same appearance, named it Shenir (Deut. 3, 9). It is 
also called Sion, "the elevated," in Deut. 4, 48, a 
name not to be confounded with Zion, which means 
"sunny or dry." Its modern Arabic name is " Jebel- 
esh-Sheik. " Upon its upper slope the snow lies 
usually till the end of August, while the crevices on 
which the sun does not directly beat are never clear of 
it. Hermon is seen from afar, even from Eastern 
Judaea, in the descent from Marsaba to the Dead Sea; 
at Damascus its shape seems quite different; it there 
towers over the plain with commanding aspect, and 
indeed almost seems to overhang the city as it rises 

197 



198 



THE HOLY LAND. 



against the western sky at sunset. Of its three peaks, 
the western is the lower, the other two being of the 
same height. 

The view from the summit is described as magnifi- 
cent. To the east, close by, is Damascus amid its 
gardens, while beyond stretches afar 
the desolate plain in which the rivers 
of Damascus lose themselves, the horizon being 
broken by the hill of Bashan, seventy miles off. To 
the southeast lies the treeless, waterless Lejah, a basin 
scarred w r ith deep gorges and dotted with extinct cra- 
ters. Southward the eye rests on the mountains of 
Bashan and Gilead as far as the line of the Jabbok, 
beyond which the height of Jebel Osha shuts in the 
view, and ranges down the Jordan valley, across the 
Sea of Galilee, over the mountains of Ephraim and 
the wilderness of Judah. Further west the Galilean 
hills and the heights of Carmel are clearly seen. A 
very notable feature of this mountain, alluded to in 
the Bible, is the rapidity with which the clouds form 
about it, and the abundance of dew by night, which 
drenches everything, even through waterproof cover- 
ings (Ps. 133, 3). This is caused by the extremes of 
temperature in the Jordan valley and on the mountain 
sides. 

76. South of Hermon, reaching to the Jabbok, lay 
Bashan, an extensive region, parts of which were at 
one time densely populated. It included El-Lejah, 
which is named in scripture Argob, the stony (Deut. 
3, 4). Bashan included also the Hauran, afterwards 



EASTERN PALESTINE. 



199 



Auranitis, beyond which to the southeast lay Bozrah 
(Is. 63, 0. The name of Bashan 

BASHAN. V . . 

remains in El-Battein, applied still 
to the district southeast from the Sea of Galilee. 
The great ford Abarah led over to it from the plain of 
Jezreel, and this explains, John I, 28, where the 
authorized version reads Bethabara, and the revised 
version, Bethany beyond Jordan. For the modern 
name of the district is El-Bethaniah. Geshur (2 Sam. 
13, 37) lay in the north of Bashan, Maachah on the 
northwest, and the land of Tob in the west, just south 
of the Sea of Galilee, its name surviving in that of the 
town Tayibeh, which has the significance in Arabic of 
Tob in Hebrew, that is 6 i Good. " Bashan has always 
been famous for its pasturage and cattle, and also for 
its great oaks, specimens of which are yet to be seen. 
The ruins thickly strewn, tell how populous it was. 
Across Bashan lay the routes of armies and caravans, 
some descending by the river courses into the Jordan 
to cross Palestine, and some holding on south on the 
eastern table-land, like the great Haj road to this day, 
leading out to Edom and Arabia. 

77. Gilead (Deut. 34, 1), extended for some 
twenty-five miles south from the Yarmuk. The beauty 
and fertility of Gilead has always been proverbial. Its 
general level is about 2,000 feet 
above the sea. The highest point 
is Jebel Osha (3,597 feet), in the northwestern corner 
of the land just south of the Jabbok (Gen. 32, 22). 
Between the Jabbok and the Wady Heshbon, the 



200 



THE HOLY LAND. 



horsemen ride by clear mountain brooks through 
glades of oak and terebinth, with dark pines above. 
The valleys green with grain, the streams fringed with 
oleander, the magnificent screen of green, yellow and 
russet foliage which covered the steep slopes, pre- 
sented a scene of quiet beauty, of checkered light and 
shade of uneastern aspect which makes Mount Gilead 
a veritable land of promise. 

The course of the Jabbok forms three-fourths of a 
circle. It rises in the southeastern part of Gilead, and 
sweeps round with a wide bend northward, and then 
passes westward to the Jordan about the base of 
Mount Gilead. In this course it embraces a circular 
basin, called El-Beja, round w T hich are hills covered 
w 7 ith oak forests. The southern part of Gilead lying 
just north of the Wady Heshbon was the land of the 
Ammonites, their capital, or Rabbath-Ammon (Deut. 
3, 1 1), lying at the southern spring of the Jabbok. 

78. South of Wady Heshbon the land of Moab 
stretched along the eastern side of the Salt Sea. The 
portion between Heshbon and Arnon 

MOAB. . 

became the territory of Reuben, and 
the Moabites dw T elt to the south of the Arnon (Deut. 
2, 36). The mountains which go down in great steps 
to the edge of the sea, form on the west a sure wall of 
defense, for they are practically unassailable. From 
these, w T hich bear the name of Abarim, the table-land 
spreads eastward in rolling pastures. The great wall 
of the Abarim range is seen even from Jerusalem, 
forming a conspicuous object in its scenery beyond the 



EASTERN PALESTINE. 



201 



south shoulder of Olivet. At its north end the deep 
cleft of the Wady Heshbon leads down to Abel Shit- 
tim and the Jordan passage over against Jericho. 
Immediately south of this are the Springs of Pisgah, 
now Ain Musa, the last camp of Israel before descend- 
ing to the Jordan (Deut. 3, 17). Nebo still preserves 
its name, which seems to have applied to the actual 
point of the mountain. Zophim (Num. 23, 14) is at 
Talet-es-Sufa. A little higher up is the ridge of 
Siaghah or Pisgah, the flat top of which is Nebo. 

79. Ten miles south of Nebo the edge of the 
plateau is divided by the deep ravine of the Zerka 
Main, the ancient Callirhoe. This is now identified 
with Nahaliel (Num. 21, 19), the Valley of God, 
which may signify no more than the great valley, or 
may be connected with the Baal-worship of this district. 
The lofty mountain of Jebel Attarus stands on the 
south of the valley. Its height and imposing aspect 
have led some to mistake it for Mount Nebo. From its 
summit Bethlehem and Jerusalem, Gerizim and Gilboa 
may be seen. It rivals Jebel Osha in height. 

Twelve miles south of the Callirhoe flows the 
Arnon, falling into the Dead Sea just half way down 
its eastern shore. This gorge is of 

RIVER ARNON. t , ,11 

great depth ; the river absolutely 
splits by its narrow channel the great Moab range to 
its very base for several thousand feet, yet its channel 
is not more than one hundred feet wide. About fifteen 
miles up from the mouth of the Arnon stands Aroer 
(Num. 32, 34), now Arair, and at that distance from 



202 



THE HOLY LAND. 



the Dead Sea the ravine on the edge of which it stands 
is 1,500 feet deep. Yet fifteen miles further to the 
south, the Wady Kerak similarly cleaves the plateau 
opening into the sea close to the northern side of El 
Lisan. This valley is named from the Kerak, the 
' ' nest in the rock" of Moab, which stands on a soli- 
tary height 2,700 feet above the sea. At the south- 
eastern corner of the Dead Sea is the Ghor es Safieh. 
Allusion is made to it in the book of the wars of the 
Lord, quoted in Num. 21, 14 : ' 'Wherefore it is said, 
What he did in Suphah. " This was the extreme south 
of Moab. From this western edge Moab stretched far 
out eastward, a land singularly adapted to the pastur- 
ing of flocks — a rolling, treeless plain, with hillocks 
rising over it which are crowned with the ruins of former 
cities. Extensive remains of cisterns and vineyards 
testify to the density of its population in ancient times. 




MARTHA. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

SOME NESTING-PLACES OF BIBLE HISTORY. 

80. Notice the character of the hill-country as a 
place of refuge and of strength. The plains were 
the hii,i, feasible for cavalry and for chariots; 

country. the plains must bear the brunt of 
war, while the mountains are comparatively remote. 
All the Central Range, and the center of the Eastern 
Range was mountain, fit for infantry only. The 
Maritime Plain, Esdraelon and the Jordan Valley 
were feasible for cavalry and for chariots. The 
mountain land represents Israel's proper possession, 
first won, and last lost, while all the valley land was 
hardly won, and scarcely kept, and soon came under 
the great invading empires. Not only the course of 
war, but also the advance of culture is explained by 
this general distinction between hilly and level land. 
The Central Range in Judah and Ephraim formed 
Israel's most constant sanctuary. From the high 
table-land she was driven by the chariots of Syria; 
she held Moab only at intervals; the Canaanites kept 
her out of the Upper Jordan Valley and Esdraelon; 
and, except for two brief triumphs in the morning and 
in the evening of her history, the Philistines kept her 
out of the Maritime Plain. So, when the Greeks 
came, the regions they covered were the coast, the 
Jordan Valley, the Hauran, the eastern levels of 

203 



204 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Gilead and Moab. And so, when the Romans came, 
the tactics of their great generals were to secure all 
the plains, and, last of all, the high, close Judaea. 

On her hills, Israel enjoyed all the advantages of a 
healthy and bracing climate, with the addition of such 

hixi, stimulus and strain as come from a 

ci/iMATB. considerable range of the daily tem- 
perature,* as well as from the neighborhood of extreme 
heat, in the Jordan valley and in the western plain. 
Some tribes suffered these changes of temperature 
more than others. Most subject to them were the 
highlanders of Mount Ephraim, who had fields in the 
Jordan valley, and the Galileans whose province 
included both the heights of Naphtali and the tropical 
basin in which the Lake of Galilee lies. In their 
journeys through this land from the Jordan to Can a, 

a hardy from Nazareth to Capernaum, from 

race. Capernaum to the highlands of Cse- 

sarea Philippi, our Lord and His disciples, often with 
no roof to cover their heads at night, must have felt 
the cold range of the ample Syrian temperature. But 
these are the conditions which breed a hardy and 
elastic frame of body. The national type which was 
formed in them for nearly two thousand years, was 
certain to prove at once tough and adaptable. To 
the singular variety of the climate in which the Jewish 
nation grew up, we may justly trace much of the 
physical persistence and versatility which has made 
Jews at home in every quarter of the globe. This is 
something very different from the purely Semitic frame 



SOME NESTING-PLACES OF BIBLE HISTORY. 20$ 



of body which has been tempered only by the monot- 
onous conditions of the desert. The Arab has never 
proved himself so successful a colonist as the Jew. 
And we have in these times another instance of the 
educating power of the climate of Palestine. The 
emigration of Syrians from the Turkish empire is 
steadily proceeding, and the Syrians are making good 
colonists in America and Australia. 

There is one other effect of the climate of the Holy 
Land which is quite as important. It is a climate 
achang^ab^ which lends itself to the service of 
climate. moral ideas. In the first place it is 
not mechanically regular. Unlike that of Egypt, the 
climate of Syria does not depend upon a few simple 
and unfailing phenomena, upon one great instrument 
like the Nile to whose operations man has but to link 
his own labor and the fruits of the year are inevitable. 
In the Palestine year there is no inevitableness. Fer- 
tility does not spring from a source which is within 
control of man's spade, and by which he can defy a 
brazen and illiberal heaven. It comes down from 
heaven, and if heaven seems to withhold it, there is 
nothing else within a man's reach to substitute for it. 
The climate of Palestine is regular enough to provoke 
men to methodical labor for its fruits, but the regu- 
larity is often interrupted. The early rains or the 
later rains fail, drought comes occasionally for two 
years in succession, and that means famine and pesti- 
lence. There are, too, the visitations of the locust, 
which are said to be bad every fifth or sixth year ; and 



206 



THE HOLY LAND. 



there are earthquakes, also periodical in Syria. Thus 
the imagination is roused to feel the presence of a 
will behind nature in face of whose interruptions of 
the fruitfulness or stability of the land man is abso- 
lutely helpless. 

To such a climate, then, is partly due Israel's les- 
sons in the doctrine of Providence. In the Book of 
Deuteronomy this is emphasized by a contrast with 
Egypt. For the land . whither thou goest in to 
possess it, is not like the land of Egypt, whence ye 
dependence came out, where thou sowedest thy 
upon god. seed, and wateredest it with thy foot 
as a garden of herbs — that is, where everything is so 
much under man's control, where man has all nature 
at his foot like a little garden, where he has but to 
link himself to the mechanical processes of nature, 
and the fruits of the year are inevitable. But the land 
whither ye are passing over to possess it, is a land of 
hills and valleys, of the rain of heaven it drinketh 
water ; and which Jehovah thy God himself looketh 
after ; continually are the eyes of Jehovah thy God 
upon it, from the beginning of the year, even to the 
end of the year (Deut. n, 11-13). That is, the cli- 
mate of Egypt is not one which of itself suggests a 
personal Providence, but the climate of Palestine 
does so. 

But Israel could not have read the lessons of a 
high moral Providence which she did read, with a God 
of another character than Jehovah. Look at her neigh- 
bors. They experienced the same droughts, thunder- 



SOME NESTING-PLACES OF BIBLE HISTORY. 2QJ 



storms and earthquakes ; but these do not appear to 
have suggested to them any other ideas than the wrath 
. ^ _ of the deity, who had therefore to 

A GOD OF . . 

righteous- be propitiated by the horrible sacri- 
fices of human victims, feminine 
purity and child-life, which have made their religion so 
revolting. Israel also felt that God was angry, but 
because he was such a God, and had revealed Himself 
as He had done in the past, they knew that He pun- 
ished them through their climate, not to destroy, but 
to warn and turn His rebel folk. All the Syrian reli- 
gions reflect the Syrian climate ; Israel alone inter- 
prets it for moral ends, because Israe'l alone has a God 
who is absolute righteousness. 

81. In the heart of Palestine lies a great prairie 
like the palm of a man's hand, with the fingers point- 
ing down into the Jordan valley. It 
is the Plain ot Jezreel or Megiddo, 
the battlefield of the ages. Carmel and Gilboa em- 
brace it ; half a dozen Samaritan strongholds face each 
other at its southern border ; on the north are the 
mountains of Galilee. Though assigned to Zebulon 
and Issachar, it was Manasseh that claimed it (Josh. 1 7, 
11 ; 19, 10-23). After the exile it was counted a part 
of Galilee. The name Jezreel or 4 'deepening" is 
derived from the eastern dipping into the Jordan val- 
ley ; the name Megiddo, " widening," from the west- 
ern opening toward the sea. Armies from the south 
usually entered by way of Megiddo, the pass east of 
Carmel. The Philistines dreaded the steep hills of 



208 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Benjamin and Ephraim, and camped by the open gate 
of Megiddo. This way came Pharaoh Necho from 
Egypt. The Romans set a garrison in Megiddo and 
called it "Legion." In 1799 Napoleon, who had 
crossed the Alps, dodged around to the east of Carmel. 

1. The first of the historical battles of Esdraelon 
was one in which Israel overcame a foreign tyrant who 

had cut their country through the 
middle. Sisera fled to the tent of 

Heber, seeking rest and finding death at the hands of 

Jael. 

2. The next invaders whom Israel had to meet upon 
Esdraelon were Arabs from over Jordan, the eastern 

Midianites. Gideon chose his little 
band of 300 by the Well of Harod, 
which still flows close under the steep flanks of Gilboa. 

3. The next campaign was that of the Philistines 
against Saul. They were evidently making for the 

TH ^ rich valley of the Jordan, hoping to 

PHii^isTiNBS. confine Israel to the hills, and to 
possess themselves of the caravan route to Damascus 
and the east. Somewhere on these slopes they must 
have encountered that desperate resistance which cost 
Israel the lives of three of the king's sons, and caused 
the king to kill himself (1 Sam. 31). 

4. Here King Josiah was slain by 
the Egyptian archers of Pharaoh 
Necho (2 Chron. 35, 23). 

On the sides of this plain was the slaughter place 
of the priests of Baal at the command of Elijah 



SOME NESTING-PLACES OF BIBLE HISTORY. 20g 

(i Kings 1 8, 40); you see also Jehu's ride from 
many Bethshan to the vineyard of Na- 

Events. both (2 Kings 9, 20); you see the 
enormous camp of Holofernes; you see the marches 
and counter-marches of Syrians, Egyptians and Jews 
in the Hasmonean days; the elephants and engines of 
Antiochus; the litters of Cleopatra; the Romans plant- 
ing their camps; then the black tents of the Arab 
bedouin; pilgrims arrive and cloisters are built; Cru- 
sading castles rise; then the Arabs break the line of 
the Christian defense and Saladin spreads his camp 
where Israel saw those of Midian and the Philistines; 
Napoleon, with his monstrous ambition of an empire 
on the Euphrates, breaks into it by Megiddo, and in 
three short months falls back again upon the first great 
retreat of his career. What a plain it is! Men have 
felt that there was fighting from heaven, the stars in 
their courses were fighting. But we are reminded of 
one who came there eighteen centuries ago, the Prince 
of Peace. Yonder he taught the multitudes, fed the 
famished thousands, and stilled the stormy sea; there 
at Nain he staunched the tears of sorrow and raised 
the dead to life. Earth's battlefields shall yet glow 
with the victories of the Prince of Peace. 



14 




2IO • TOWER OF DAVID. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE CAMPAIGNS OF JOSHUA. 

82. After the death of Moses, Israel crossed the 
Jordan as she had crossed the Red Sea, dry shod 
(Josh. 3), the river being arrested from the district of 
Zaretan, which is beyond Succoth (1 Kings 7, 46). 
The city Adam is most likely represented by the 
Damieh ford at Succoth, eighteen miles up from Jer- 
icho; a great length of the river being thus dried up 
allowed the far-spreading host to cross rapidly. Their 
first camp on the west of Jordan 
was at Gilgal. The name Gilgal 
probably arose from the erection of stone circles in 
connection with heathen worship. If so, Joshua gave 
a new meaning to the name by the erection there of 
his twelve stones, so consecrating the spot that had 
been devoted to ignorant superstitions by a memorial 
of Jehovah's miraculous interposition in favor of His 
covenant people. But faint traces of ruin now mark 
the spot known as Jiljulia, four miles from Jordan by 
the Wady Kelt. 

Jericho was not only a walled city, it was wealthy, 
as its spoils show. Jericho was the gateway of a 
province, the emporium of a large trade, the mistress 
of a great palm forest, woods of balsam and very rich 
gardens. Her year was one long summer; she can 
soak herself in water, and the chemicals with which 

211 



212 



THE HOLY LAND. 



her soil is charged seem to favor her peculiar products. 

Five miles in front is a river, which, 
jericho. jf oppose, cannot be crossed; 

and immediately behind are her own hills, with half a 
dozen possible citadels. Jericho is thus a city sur- 
rounded by resources. Yet in war she has always 
been easily taken. That her walls fell down at the 
sound of Joshua's trumpets is no exaggeration, but the 
soberest summary of all her history. Judaea could 
never keep her. She fell to Northern Israel till 
Northern Israel perished. She fell without a blow to 
Pompey. At the approach of Herod, and again of 
Vespasian, her people deserted her. Her people seem 
never to have been distinguished for braver)', and, 
indeed, in this climate how could they ? Enervated 
by the great heat ,and unable to endure on their bodies 
aught but linen, it was impossible that they could be 
warriors, or anything but irrigators, paddlers in water 
and soft earth. We forget how near neighbors they 
had been to Sodom and Gomorrah. No great man 
was born in Jericho; no heroic deed was ever done in 
her. She has been called the key and guard-house of 
Judaea; she was only the pantry. She never stood a 
siege, and her inhabitants were always running away. 
All that is left of her now are a few hovels and a 
tower on the edge of a swamp. The capture by 
Joshua did not obliterate the name. Even before the 
rebuilding of its walls by Hiel of Bethel, in the evil, 
God-defying days of Ahab (i Kings 16, 34), we fre- 
quently read of it in scripture. 



214 



THE HOLY LAND. 



83. After the capture of Jericho, the fixed camp of 
Israel remained at Gilgal, till the conquest of the land 
thb strata- was achieved. The site was a good 
gem of ai. one £ or d e f ensej an d convenient for 

attack upon the promised land. The next step was to 
strike at the heart of the country ; this was attempted 
in the assault on Ai. There is no reason to question 
the identification of the Wady Kelt with the valley of 
Achor, where Achan was stoned to death. As to Ai, 
the region in which it must have lain is narrowly cir- 
cumscribed ; it was close to Bethel, on the east. 
Without question it lay up the Wady Suweinit, which 
goes down from Bethel to join Wady Kelt above Jeri- 
cho. Up that rugged valley the ambush made its way 
by night (Josh. 8), and hid in the deep hollow on the 
north of Ai, while the army under Joshua, advancing 
so as to reach Ai in the morning and engage the atten- 
tion of the defenders, drew them down the valley by 
feigned flight, till the ambush had taken possession of 
their city and set it on fire. The Wady Suweinit is a 
steep, almost impassable valley, cleaving the land from 
the Jordan valley up to Bethel on the watershed, and 
compelling traffic to keep to the one central main road. 
It was the scene of Jonathan's exploit when he crossed 
from Seneh, its southern cliff, to Bozez on the north 
(1 Sam. 14, 4). Seneh had its name, as the valley 
itself has it at this part, from the thorns which grew 
in it. Bozez was called the shining, from its white 
sunlit brow, in contrast with the darkly-shadowed 
Seneh over against it. At Michmash, on the northern 



THE CAMPAIGNS OF JOSHUA. 



215 



edge of the ravine, some three miles below Ai, the 
march of Sennacherib was arrested (Isa. 10, 23), and 
his heavy ordnance and baggage left, ere he could 
advance on Jerusalem. 

When Ai was captured, and Bethel, on the central 
main-road, was consequently in Joshua's hand, he held 
a position from which he could turn to deal with his 
enemies one by one. The inhabitants of Gibeon, 
therefore, quickly sought to make peace. 

84. Southern Campaign. — Gibeon, El Jib, lies on 
the northern slope of the outstanding hill known as 
Neby Samwil. It is but six or seven miles south of 
Bethel, and between two and three miles to the west 
of the central main road. There yet remains the 
famous "pool of Gibeon" at which the forces of 
Abner and Joab met (2 Sam. 2, 13). On hearing that 
the Gibeonites had deserted to the enemy, and so 
opened his way into the very heart of the land, five 
neighboring kings gathered suddenly against Gibeon 
(Josh. 10, 4), both to chastise it for its perfidy and to 
secure its strong position. Summoned to help his 
new allies, Joshua went up by night from Gilgal, by 
no means an extraordinary march. Falling on the 
besiegers, Joshua drove them westward and south- 
ward before him by upper Bethoron, five miles west 
of Gibeon, down the valley of Ajalon even into the 
land of the Philistines. The fugitive kings passing 
Gezer, a Canaanite stronghold, hid themselves in the 
cave of Makkedah; whence they were brought out, 
slain and hanged. If Azekah, named in Josh. 10, 1 1, 



2l6 



THE HOLY LAND. 



is the Deir el Ashek on the south side of the Wady 
Surar, eight or nine miles east of Makkedah, it would 
appear that part of the Canaanite forces fled down 
that valley of Surar or Sorek, while others fled over 
Bethoron. This is, of course, likely enough, as 
Joshua's attack was delivered from the northeast, and 
the fugitives would be almost at once parted, as they 
fled by the west or by the east of Neby Samwil, 
towards which they were driven. The valleys of 
Sorek and Ajalon may be easily traced, rising respect- 
ively on the east and west of Neby Samwil. The 
victory was followed up by the capture of the cities of 
Libnah (not identified) and of Lachish, now Tell el 
Hesy, fourteen miles northeast of Gaza, which offered 
a stout resistance, being a place of strength, as its 
after history proves. 

The site of Lachish has been excavated by Mr. 
Bliss. The mound is sixty feet high, the heaps of 
eight successive towns, and is 200 feet square. The 
lowest and most ancient Amorite town was enclosed 
by a wall, 28 feet 8 inches thick, of 

LACHISH. . 

sun-baked bricks ; above this are 
buildings of the time of the Judges and earlier Jewish 
kings (2 Chron. 11, 9). In 1888, Mr. Petrie found at 
Tell-el-Amarna, in Egypt, letters from Zimridi, gov- 
ernor of Lachish under Pharaoh; and in 1892, a letter 
was found at Lachish addressed to Zimridi from some 
chieftain on the low hills southeast of Lachish, asking 
help against the robbers. The tablet is very im- 
portant as showing the use of cuneiform script in the 



THE CAMPAIGNS OF JOSHUA. 



217 



fifteenth century before Christ, in the days of Joshua. 
From the pottery and other indications, Mr. Petrie 
fixes the foundation of Lachish about the beginning of 
the seventeenth century B. C. For 400 years there- 
after it was exposed to successive Egyptian invasions, 
and the series of great walls which defended it can 
still be traced as built and overthrown four times 
before its conquest by Israel. As late as the days of 
Hezekiah, Lachish was a city strong enough to detain 
the great Sennacherib before its walls. On Assyrian 
slabs, which are now in the British Museum, it is 
depicted with towers and battlements, crowded with 
armed defenders. Underneath the sculptured repre- 
sentations are inscribed the words, Sennacherib, the 
king of multitudes. The king of Assyria sat on an 
upright throne, and the spoil of the city of Lachish 
passed before him. 

A diversion, attempted by Horam, king of Gezer, 
only led to Joshua turning back to his own, which 
lay more than twenty miles north of Lachish. Its 
site has been recovered at Tell Jezer, 
which commands the entrance to the 
hill some four or five miles west of Nicopolis. Though 
now conquered and assigned to the Levites, it was a 
stronghold of the Canaanites till Pharaoh captured it 
and gave it to King Solomon as his daughter's dowry 
(1 Kings 9, 16). 

Eglon, next captured, is now Ajlan, between two 
and three miles eastward from Lachish. Hebron, 
twenty-five miles east of Eglon, next fell before Israel, 



2l8 



THE HOLY LAND. 



and then Debir, fully twelve miles to the southwest 
Egi,on of Hebron. Upon Joshuas retiring, 

hebron all these cities were apparently re- 

AND DEBIR. . , , . A . /T j 

occupied by the Amorites (Judg. I, 
1 1 — 1 3). The only one retained by Israel w T as Hebron. 
This may be explained by the strong influence of Egypt. 
The conquest of all the land from Kadesh-Barnea to 
Goshen, and from Gaza to Gibeon (Josh. 10, 44), must 
be understood in a general sense. This southern cam- 
paign practically gave to Israel dominion south of 
Gibeon from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean. 

85. Alarmed by the triumphant career of Israel in 
the south, the kings of the north gathered at the sum- 
campaigns in mons of Jabin of Hazor (Josh. 11), 
the north, by the waters of Merom. The 
extent and formidable power of the combined armies 
was great. They were as the sand upon the sea shore 
in multitude with horses and chariots very many. 
The site of Hazor is now marked by Jebel Hadireh, 
six miles west of Huleh, and four miles south of 
Kadesh. The king of Madin was his next neighbor, 
dwelling by the famous hill of Hattin, where the name 
Madin is still found. Here the fiery cross from Hazor 
was passed westwards to Shimron, now known as 
Simunieh, and the northern edge of the plain of 
Esdraelon, five miles due west of Nazareth. Thence it 
was sent on to Achshaph, now Kefr Yasif, twenty miles 
northwest of Shimron, and six northeast of Accho. 
These cities are named as they stand in a semicircle, 
enclosing Galilee (Josh. 11, 1). In the next verse the 



THE CAMPAIGNS OF JOSHUA. 



219 



historian's description encloses a wider circle, naming 
the kings of the more northern mountains, and of the 
plains south of Chinneroth (Gennesaret), and in the 
great valley of Esdraelon, westward to Dor, upon the 
sea shore, some twelve miles south of Carmel, where 
its old tower is yet a conspicuous landmark, and its 
extensive ruins projecting into the sea testify to its for- 
mer importance as a seaport. It lay close to the present 
village of Tanturah. Then, as the summons went far 
and near, there gathered Canaanites from the east 
(Phoenicians) and from the west (Amorites), and Hit- 
tites, with their multitude of trained hosts and chariots 
from Coele Syria; Perizzites and Hivites from the 
plains and cities, with the Jebusite from the mount- 
ains, joined the host. The whole strength of Israel's 
foes was thus gathered to be destroyed at one blow. 
Joshua came on them by surprise, his victories, hu- 
manly speaking, being due, as those of most great 
conquerors, to the swiftness of his action, and the 
concentrated force of his attack. A special assurance 
of victory, such as he must have solely needed, was 
given him the day before he joined issues in a battle 
on whose result so much depended (Josh. 11, 6). The 
smitten host, parting before his assault, fled, some 
westward over the hills to Sidon and Sarepta, and 
some eastwards and northwards to the land of Mizpeh, 
whence they came. 

As he had done in the south, so in the north he 
followed up his victory, promptly attacking and over- 
throwing the cities whence his foes had mustered to 



220 



THE HOLY LAND. 



battle against him. Practically his work was done, 
though there remained much land to be possessed. 
The lot of each tribe was now to be assigned, that 
each might make good a possession in the land con- 
quired by their united strength. The advance to 
Sechem and the pitching of the tabernacle at Shiloh, 
where the lots for the inheritance of the tribes were 
cast, prove that the conquest of Central Palestine had 
also been accomplished, though we have no record 
of it. 




JOSEPH'S TOMB. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



THE DIVISION OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 

86. The careful survey of the larrd which we owe 
to the English Ordnance Survey under the auspices of 
the Palestine Exploration Fund Society, enables us to 
follow the tribe boundary lines drawn and described 
in the Book of Joshua. We read that the allotments 
of the chief tribes of Judah and Benjamin were first 
determined; the others being ranked under them. 
Discontent and grumbling seem to have early broken 
out; and there are two manifest signs of the selfish- 
ness of the tribes, each in its several lot. Yet there 
is evidence that the land, with its various advantages, 
was apportioned to the various tribes, with due regard 
to their habits, and their several abilities to make the 
most of it. 

One very notable result of the recent survey is the 
discovery that the boundary lines between the tribes 
followed the natural features of the country. The 
recovery of the sites of frontier towns hitherto un- 
known, also guides us more surely in drawing the 
tribal boundaries. 

The territory assigned to Judah was the largest 
portion west of Jordan; and, as first marked out, 
included 2,300 square miles, little short of the great 
territory given to Manasseh in Bashan. But from 
this 1,000 square miles were given to Simeon in the 

221 



222 



THE HOLY LAND. 



south. The wilderness along the Dead Sea was of 
little value; while the fertile plains of Philistia and 
the rounded hills above it were 

JUDAH. 11-, 

never actually m the possession of 

Judah, though nominally within his boundaries. The 

southern boundary started from the end of the Salt 

Sea at the east, following the ascent of the Acrabbim 

and the great mountain wall above the desert to the 

south of Rehoboth, and thence by the Wady el Arish 

to the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean formed the 

west boundary, as the Salt Sea did the eastern. The 

northern boundary alone remains to be determined. 

Two accounts are given of it, the one from east to 

west (Josh. 15, 5-1 1), and the other from west to east 

(Tosh. 18, 15-20); the first describ- 
north. ; J . ' 1 

ing it as the northern boundary of 

Judah, the second as the southern boundary of Benja- 
min. The northern boundary of Judah began at the 
northw T est of the Salt Sea, passing through Beth 
Hogla. It went up by the Valley of Achor, now the 
Wady Kelt, keeping south of Jericho. Thence by the 
going up of Adummim it reached En Rogel at Jerusa- 
lem. This was a spring, and there is only one spring 
at Jerusalem, and that is the so-called Virgin's Foun- 
tain. This is, moreover, by the stone of Zoheleth, 
still known as Zahweileh, a cliff on the east of the 
Kedron valley, on which the village of Siloam now 
stands. The next part of the boundary is described as 
passing to the other side of Jerusalem, evidently along 
the valley of Hinnom to the north end of the valley of 



THE DIVISION OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 223 



Rephaim. From the head of the Emak Rephaim the 
fertile plain running southwestwards from Jerusalem, 
and skirting the road to Bethlehem, the boundary 
went out to the waters of Nephtoah, by the sepulchre 
of Rachel (i Sam. 10, 2), running, that is, exactly 
along the watershed. Thence the boundary passed the 
cities of Mount Ephron to Kirjath Jearim. Out due 
westward along the watershed, on the south of the 
Wady Bittir, the boundary ran to Khurbet Erma, 
which represents Arim, the latter form of the name 
Jearim, as we find it in Erza 2, 25. Four miles down 
to the west, just off the mountains in the valley of 
Sorak, lies Ain Shems, the " well of the sun," mark- 
ing the site of the well-known Bethshemesh, by which 
the boundary passed to Timnah, three miles further 
west, thence to Ekron, and Jabneel, now Yebnah, 
which lies but four miles from the Mediterranean. 
Thus the line may be said to have run down the valley 
of Surat, following that branch which drains the coun- 
try west of Bethlehem. The position thus assigned to 
Judah was one of great natural strength. From but a 
few points could it be assailed, and the valleys by which 
it could alone be approached from the west were well 
fitted to be defended by a few against a host. 

87. Josh, 19, 1-9. The part assigned to Simeon 
is nowhere exactly defined. There is a mere enumer- 
ation of the towns which were as- 
simeon. . 

signed, out 01 Judah to Simeon m 

the south. From the indications afforded by the posi- 
tions of the towns so far as recovered, it will be seen 



224 



THE HOLY LAND. 



that Beersheba was the central point of Simeon's lot, 
and that it lay out from the hills which, south of 
Hebron, fall to the desert; it is now untitled, but 
covered in many parts with ruins and wells, which tell 
of a once dense population. Very little is known of 
the history of the inhabitants of the south of ' ' Negeb " ; 
they fall very much out of sight in the after history of 
Israel. One almost forgets that there was a tribe of 
Simeon, it is so absorbed in Judah even from the ear- 
liest times. The land was in fact divided as it was 
naturally adapted to the habits of a wandering people. 
Simeon's territory lay in the desert lands which lie 
round the base of the soft limestone hills on the west 
and south, where still the Bedouin tribes pitch their 
tents. Around Beersheba the pasturage is beautiful 
in the spring; by the end of autumn, it is scorched, 
and the treeless expanse of grey mud is a desolation. 

88. Josh. 18, 11-28. The southern boundary of 
Benjamin was the same as the northern boundary of 
Tudah from the Jordan westwards to 

BENJAMIN. . . - _ j j 

Kirjath Jearim. The Jordan was 
for five miles the eastern boundary. The northern 
boundary line was traced from Jordan from the point 
where the Aujeh flows into it, passing westwards by 
Wady Shukh-ed-Duba, in which the Zeboim of 1 Sam. 
13, 18, and Neh. 11, 34, may be recognized, and 
upwards thence by the wilderness of Bethaven to 
Bethel — that is, up in a northwesterly direction to 
Tell Azur, or Baal Hazor, a notable landmark, 3,318 
feet in height. Though after the division of the King- 



THE DIVISION OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 22 5 



doms the boundary was removed so far south as to 
include Bethel in the northern Kingdom, we see from 
Neh. ii, 33, that in the registers Hazor was counted 
to Benjamin. Baal Hazor was a chief place of Baal- 
worship, hence the emphatic witness of Abraham to 
Jehovah in setting up a distinct altar at Bethel and 
worshiping there, hence the fitness of the place for 
Jacob's dream; and hence the " wickedness of Jero- 
boam's wickedness" insetting up at Bethel worship 
fit for Bethaven. The boundary ran southward to 
Bethel along the height of the water-shed. Placed 
at this point, where the central road 
runs on a narrow ridge breaking 
rapidly down to the Wady Suweinit eastwards, and 
also falling off quickly on the west, Bethel held an 
important position, and was a place of strength 
(Judges i, 22-25). For four or five miles further 
south, the boundary kept by the central watershed 
and then turned westwards to Archi, which is now 
recognized in Ain Arik (Josh. 16, 2). Thence it went 
to Ataroth Adar, now represented by Khurbet Dariah, 
four miles still farther to the west, lying on the hill- 
side about a mile south of Lower Bethoron, exactly 
as described in Josh. 18, 13. Passing Japhleti, which 
is unknown, it went to Gezer, the royal city of the 
Canaanites, now Tel Jezer. The western boundary 
of Benjamin ran up the watershed from Gezer in a 
southeasterly direction for five or six miles, and then 
turning southward, met the southern boundary at Kir- 
jath Jearim. The territory assigned to Benjamin was 
15 



226 



THE HOLY LAND. 



cut out of that assigned to Ephraim and the tribes 
reckoned with it; it was in area one of the smallest, 
containing only some 400 square miles. Though in 
area small, it was in importance one of the first. It 
included part of Jerusalem, and the natural line of 
defense of Jerusalem on the north, the wealthy and 
luxuriant plain of Jericho, and the sacred cities also 
of Bethel and Gibeon which was so long the resting- 
place of the ark and the scene of Solomon's corona- 
tion. . From the rugged neighborhood of its greatest 
eastern valley, running down from Bethel to Jericho 
came Saul, Israel's first king; and from its great west- 
ern valley of Ajalon came Israel's last great military 
leader and deliverer, Judas Maccabaeus. Holding the 
fortress of the land, fierce in war and skillful too 
(Judg. 20, 14-16), the tribe fulfilled the prediction of 
Jacob, " Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf; in the morn- 
ing he shall devour the prey; and at night he shall 
divide the spoil" (Gen. 49, 27). 

89. Josh. 19, 40-48. The tribe of Dan was, in 
the first instance, allotted a small territory to the west 
of Benjamin's lot. It spread along 
the seashore, including the lower 
part of the Valley of Sorek on the south, and the plain 
of Sharon northwards as far as Joppa. In area it was 
probably much the same as the tribe territory of Ben- 
jamin, or about 400 square miles. 

Beginning at the south, Zorah and Eshtoal are 
first named. These lie in the Wady Sorek, due west 
of Kirjath Jearim. Irshemesh, ' < the city of the sun," 



THE DIVISION OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 227 



is *probably represented in Ain Shems, " the fountain 
of the sun." In scripture we read oftener of Beth- 
shemesh. Zorah is now Surah, and Eshtaol is Eshua 
close to it. These three form a triangular group just 
where the stream breaks out onto the Shephelah from 
the mountains of Judah. Of the towns named in the 
next verse, Ajalon is now Yalo, four or five miles north 
of Eshtaol; Shaalabbin is most probably Selbit, three 
miles to the north of Yalo, and Jethlah four miles still 
further north. These lay immediately to the west of 
the territory of Benjamin in the Valley of Ajalon. 
Elon, next named, is without question Beit Ello, which 
lies seven miles northeast from Shilta; andThimnatha 
(Josh. 19, 43) is Tibneh close by. Ekron, or Aker, 
was one of the five chief cities of the Philistines. 
Gibbethon is no doubt Kibbiah, between Tibneh and 
Lydda, seven miles from the latter. Japho, or Joppa, 
last named in the list, serves as a good guide to the 
others; its position and history are familiar. Jehud, 
El Yehudujeh, is some eight miles east of it, and Ben- 
eberak, now Ibn Ibrak, half way between them. 
Rakkon is on the seashore six miles north of Joppa, 
while Mejarkon, ''the yellow water," is identified with 
the river Aujeh, which has the same meaning. The 
territory thus occupied by Dan was very small, and 
the strength of those in possession was too great for 
that small tribe to dispossess them. Even with the 
aid of Ephraim it failed to do so. The position was a 
very important one, as the approaches to the center of 
the land, and more especially to Jerusalem, from the 



228 



THE HOLY LAND. 



west, were in charge of the Danites. The roads by 
Bethhoron and Amwas-Nicopolis, in the Valley of 
Ajalon, and that which ascended the Valley of 
Sorek, were committed to his keeping, and a foe 
assaulting the capital from the west, as in the days of 
the Maccabees, discovered the significance of the pro- 
phetic description : Dan shall be a serpent by the 
way, an adder in the path that biteth the horses' heels 
so that his rider shall fall backward (Gen. 49, 17). 

90. Josh. 16, 1-10. The southern boundary of 
Ephraim coincided with the northern of Benjamin. 

The extent of land assigned to this 

EPHRAIM. 

tribe is usually much exaggerated. 
His valleys were fat valleys, and his possession was 
thus most valuable, but it was limited. The northern 
boundary is described in Josh. 16, 5-8, and again as 
the southern boundary of Manasseh, in Josh. 17, 7-9. 
In both places it is stated shortly, and as if the writer, 
at Shechem, or at some other point, were regarding it 
first as it ran thence eastward to Jordan, and then as 
it went out westward to the Mediterranean. Shechem 
itself was to the north of the boundary, for it belonged 
to Manasseh. Michmethah lay to the east of Shechem 
on the border of Ephraim. Asher may be Askar, or 
Ishcar, which is named as Sychar in John 4, on the 
northwest corner of the Plain of Muknah, which is to 
the east of Shechem, and in which is the well of Jacob 
and the tomb of Joseph. Following the ridge east of 
the Muknah plain past Salim, in a southeasterly direc- 
tion, we reach Tana, the ruins of which, no doubt, 



THE DIVISION OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 



229 



mark the site of Taanath Shiloh. Janoah, the next 
point of the boundary given, is also easily recognized 
in Yanun, scarcely three miles south of Tana. 

Shechem is one of the towns we first meet with in 
scripture. It kept its name till, in the time of the 
Romans, it was changed to Flavia 

SHECHEM. . 

Neapolis, alter the Flavian lamily, 
to which Vespasian belonged. Neapolis became Na- 
blous ; it is beautifully situated ; one would almost 
take it for an ideal capital for the land. Here the law 
was read as Moses commanded (Josh. 8, 33). Two 
questions have been raised in connection with this read- 
ing of the law : the possibility of hearing it read, and 
the possibility of assembling the twelve tribes on the 
ground at the same time. Of the first there can be no 
doubt ; the valley has no acoustic properties, but the 
air in Palestine is so clear that the voice can be easily 
heard at long distances. It is not necessary to sup- 
pose every word heard ; the law was familiar, and the 
response would be taken up as the sound of the reader's 
voice ceased ; and, as regards the second point, there 
are few localities which would afford so large an 
amount of standing-room on the same area, or give 
such facilities for the assembling of a great multitude. 

Another site within the territory of Ephraim which 
should be noted is Shiloh, twelve miles south of 

Shechem and ten miles north of 

SHII/OH. 

Bethel on the road between them. 
Shiloh was the site of the tabernacle (Josh. 18), which 
apparently had been removed to Bethel (Judg. 20), 



230 



THE HOLY LAND. 



and then returned to Shiloh in the early times of the 
judges. It is most likely it was at Bethel in the time 
of Deborah (Judg. 4, 5). Here Samuel heard the 
voice of the Lord, and here aged Eli fell dead at the 
news of the capture of the ark. Nothing of Shiloh 
remains but the ruins to give emphasis to the warning 
of Jer. 7, 12-14, an d 26, 6-9. Though the name 
Seilun remains, the place remained unknown till dis- 
covered by Robinson. It lies off the main road, and 
so escaped notice. Its ruins are strewn over a Tell or 
mound, rising at the base of the hills on the north 
side of a plain where two valleys meet. Northwards 
the Tell slopes down to a broad shoulder, across 
which a sort of level court, 77 feet wide by 412 long, 
has been cut. Most probably here stood the taber- 
nacle, which w T as according to tradition, a build- 
ing of low stone walls, with the tent drawn over the 
top. The spring (Judg. 21) is nearly a mile northeast, 
up a narrow valley, on the sides of which are rock-cut 
tombs; in some of these the old high priests of Israel 
may have been laid. Shiloh was central in situation, 
but seems otherwise to have had no attractions. 

Jiljiliah, four or five miles southwest of Shiloh, 
and seven north of Bethel, is the Gilgal of 2 Kings 2, 1, 
where there was a school of the prophets. This is 
not to be confounded with the site of the camp of 
Israel which lay between Jericho and the Jordan; nor 
with the Gilgal near Dor of Josh. 12, 23, which is 
represented by Jil-juleh in the plain of Sharon, about 
twelve miles up from the mouth of the brook Kanah. 



THE DIVISION OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 2 3 1 



In general character the mountains of Ephraim are 
quite different from the forbidding and barren hills of 
Benjamin. Cut off from Ephraim's first allotment, 
they are more fertile and open. The villages, perched 
on heights for safety, looked down on little plains 
lying between the hills — often no doubt, as in Gideon's 
time, looked down helplessly on invaders reaping their 
harvests. 

91. Josh. 17, 1 — 1 8. The half tribe of Manasseh 
had the land from Jordan to the city Dora (Dor) ; but 
its breadth was at Bethshan, which 

MANASSEH. . . 

is now called Scythopolis. Such is 
the brief statement of Josephus, leaving us to ascer- 
tain the territory of Manasseh from the list of towns 
which are named within it. The southern boundary 
coincided with that of Ephraim ; the eastern was the 
Jordan up by the district of Zaretan to over against 
Bethshean. The western boundary was the sea. The 
northern line it is impossible to fix accurately ; for, 
besides Bethshean, Endor, close to Tabor, beyond the 
Plain of Esdraelon, was reckoned to Manasseh (Josh. 
17, 11), although it lay in Issachar. Westwards, no 
doubt, the line followed that of the range of Carmel, 
the wood of which Joshua told the children of Ephraim 
they might cut down and possess, since they were, as 
they said, a great people (Josh. 17, 14-28). The 
boundary line probably followed the watershed. Car- 
mel, famed for its park-like beauty, for its oliveyards 
and vineyards, was a valuable possession. 

The importance of the land assigned to Manasseh 



232 



THE HOLY LAND. 



consisted in its including not only fertile parts of the 
land, but also such important cities as Shechem (Josh. 
17, 2), one of the most beautiful in all the land, well 
watered and to this day the site of one of its chief 
towns. Samaria also was in Manasseh's lot, and Tir- 
zah the beautiful, now Teiazir (Song 6, 4), which was 
the capital of the northern kingdom before Samaria 
(1 Kings 14, 17). Other positions which should be 
noted are Ferata, representing Ophra of the Abiez- 
rites, six miles southwest of Shechem ; and Taanach, 
on the edge of the Plain of Esdraelon, so often the 
scene of battle. The very extensive area, reckoned at 
some 1,300 square miles, was, however, but partially 
possessed by the tribe of Manasseh. Shechem was 
the central city of refuge for Western Palestine. 

92. Josh. 19, 17-23. The greater part of the 
plain of Jezreel or Esdraelon fell to the lot of Issachar. 

To the west it was enclosed by 
Zebulon, whose boundary ran from 
Jokneam, where the river descends from the northern 
steeps of Carmel, known as Jokneam of Carmel (Josh. 
12, 22), and identified with the Tell Keimum. Ches- 
suloth is no doubt to be placed at Iksal, and the next 
frontier from Daberath at Dabureh, a mile north- 
west of Mount Tabor. From Jokneam to this the 
border ran almost in a straight line from east to west 
for a distance of sixteen miles. From this point east- 
wards Issachar touched Naphtali, the boundary line 
going down the Wady Bireh on the north side of the 
Little Hermon, to the Jordan. This range is also 



THE DIVISION OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 



233 



identified with the Hill of Moreh, named in Judg. 7, 1. 
It may be traced on the relief map running parallel 
with the valley of Jezreel and lying farther north. 

The possession of Issachar was a desirable one 
(Gen. 49, 14-15); and many of its towns are named 
in Bible story. Jezreel lay on the westmost point of 
this range of Gilboa, where it runs off into the plain; 
and Engannim was just seven miles due south of it. 
Six miles northwest of Engannim lay Taanach, with 
Rummaneh close beside it; four miles beyond which 
again lay Legio, generally identified with Megiddo. 
Along the northern boundary lay towns well known, 
Shunem, Nain, Endor, on the slopes of Little Her- 
mon, close to the plain. Upon its fertile plain the 
locusts of the east came up to reap the corn which the 
Israelites had sown and tended. One of its mount- 
ains was possibly known as Har Megiddo, the Arma- 
geddon of prophetic symbol (Rev. 16, 16). Though 
now little cared for, the remains of the winepresses at 
Zerin, Jezreel, and other indications, tell how much 
more fertile this land once was than the traveler pass- 
ing through it would suppose. 

One remarkable feature of this plain is the river 
Kishon. It rises on the northern slope of Mount 
river. Tabor and gathering its water about 

kishon. the roots of Tabor east by Endor, 
and westwards by the base of the Nazareth range, it 
flows westward as the Nahr el Mukutta. Often the 
springs that feed it are suddenly swollen by heavy 
rains, and the plain becomes all at once an impassa- 



234 



THE HOLY LAND. 



ble morass, just as in the olden time when Sisera and 
Barak fought there. The Nahr el Mukutta has been 
identified with the ' ' Waters of Megiddo." There is 
greater resemblance in the name as it appears in the 
Egyptian records, where, according to Brugsch, 
Megiddo is called Makitha. The territory of Issachar 
was in superficial area very much the same as those of 
Benjamin and Dan. 

93. Josh. 19, 10-16. The boundary of Zebulon, 
as far as it coincides with Issachar, describes a straight 

line due west from Tokneam to Tabor. 

Northwestwards trom Jokneam the 
boundary ran by the base of Carmel to the sea. At 
the other eastern extremity of the straight line described 
it went up to Japhia, or Yafa, a mile to the south of 
Nazareth, and, passing Nazareth, the boundary went 
north to Gath-hepher, where (2 Kings 14, 25) Jonah 
was born. His tomb is now shown at El Meshed, not 
far from Seffurieh, or Sephoris. The northeast point 
of this boundary w r as Hanathon, now Kefr Anan, eleven 
miles north of Rimmun. At this town, which is on the 
north of the Plain of Buttaur, the northern boundary of 
Zebulon descended by the Valley of Jiphthah-el, now 
known as the Wady el Kurn, whose precipices form 
natural boundary. The boundary went thence to 
Bethdagon, within three miles of the sea-coast. The 
worship of Dagon extended, as thus appears, from 
Philistia to Phoenicia in the north, one of many indi- 
cations of their close relations. The territory of 
Zebulon was among the smallest, ranking with the 



THE DIVISION OF WESTERN PALESTINE. 235 



area of Ephraim, as did also Asher, next to be 
described. 

94. Josh. 19, 24-31. We are not so well able to 
define Asher, as he never took the plain from the 
Phoenicians. The large towns of the 
list were undoubtedly held by the 
Phoenicians or Canaanites, as Tyre, and the Great 
Zidon, and Accho. The following towns of Asher 
may be reckoned as pretty well identified ; they are but 
a few of the number given in Joshua. Achsaph is El 
Yasif. Hebron, or Abron should rather be Abdon, 
which is Abdeh at the north of the Plain of Accho, 
four miles inland from Achzib, now Ez Zib, on the 
coast. Sidon is well known, as also is Serepta, eight 
miles north of the Litany. 

Josh. 19, 32-39. The territory of Naphtali lay 
immediately to the west of the Sea of Galilee and the 
waters of Merom, the tribe of Asher, 
however, possessing the plain and 
lower hills further to the west. The boundary on the 
north is indefinite. The cities of Naphtali named in 
Joshua are fenced cities. They have nearly all been 
identified. Ziddin is well known as Hattin ; Madon is 
now Madin ; Hamath is at the hot springs two miles 
south of Tiberias. Chinneroth probably stood upon the 
Plain of Gennesaret ; Adamah may be recognized in 
Damieh, five miles southwest of Tiberias. Ramah lies 
fifteen miles west of the north end of the Sea of Galilee, 
and Hazor has been identified with Hadireh, twelve 
miles northeast of Ramah. Kadesh, famous as a 



236 



THE HOLY LAND. 



stronghold, lay west of the Lake Huleh. The other 
cities will be found in a central line north and south. 
To the north of Lake Huleh lay Abel, Dan or Laish ; 
and far north, at the uttermost boundary of the tribe, 
Ijon, now Merj Ajun, by which the westmost branch 
of the Jordan flows. The territory of Naphtali was 
among the largest, having an area of 800 square miles, 
or twice as much as Issachars. To it belonged Kedesh, 
the northmost city of refuge in Western Palestine. 




JEW WITH PHYLACTERY. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



JERUSALEM. 

95. Ever since the days of David, Jerusalem has 
been the chief city of Palestine. Although it is 
wokxd-wide small, only about a mile square, and 

interest. perhaps never larger than at present, 
it has been the theater of strange events, and it claims 
an attentive study. Half the world are interested ift 
its wonderful history. To the Jews it was the holy 
city of their temple; to the Christian it is connected 
with the life, death and resurrection of the world's 
Redeemer, and by the Mohammedan even, it is be- 
lieved to be the future judgment seat of their great 
prophet. England and Germany join in the support 
of a mission school; Russia, France, Italy and Spain 
send their monks and priests; Turkey holds possession 
as the ruling power. 

Rome cultivated physical strength, Athens intel- 
lectual power, but Jerusalem spiritual wisdom and 
holiness. Built in the heart of Judaea, away from the 
great lines of communication which cross the east, 
separated from contiguous hostile nations by the Dead 
Sea, almost inaccessible footpaths on the north, the 
desert on the south, and the Mediterranean on the 
west; situated on a rocky foundation, without any 
river, without productive soil, Jerusalem has never- 
theless gained a place among the gueat cities of the 

237 



238 



THE HOLY LAND. 



globe. With its central idea of the unity of God, who 
must be worshiped in spirit and in truth, it has carried 
to the ends of the earth a light which has been 
enabled to cleave through the clouds of doubt and 
superstition, and to elevate the mind of man through- 
out the world. Its wonderful history extends through 
long centuries, is crystalized in the immortal pages 
of Revelation, and embraces the most tender, touch- 
ing and glorious scenes. 

Jerusalem has but slender connection with the 
early history of the Bible. It was probably identical 
in part with ancient Salem, which, 

HISTORY. aii i i • ! 

m Abraham s time, was the residence 
of Melchisedek, king of righteousness. As the city 
and hill of Jebus, it was, in Joshua's time, the seat of 
Adoni Zedek, lord of righteousness. The name Jeru- 
salem seems to be a con>bination of the two names 
Jebus and Salem. The lower city was conquered by 
the tribe of Judah, but the upper city still held out till 
the time of David. As soon as possible after his advance 
to the throne, David laid siege to it with twenty 
thousand troops. The Jebusites, exulting in the 
.supposed impregnability of their position, set their 
cripples and blind men on the walls to defend them, 
but the walls were at length scaled and the strong- 
hold was secured. David installed himself in it, and it 
took the name of the City of David. And now Jeru- 
salem bloomed into sudden glory. All the success of 
the new monarch, and all the extending prosperity of 
the nation were reflected in the rising prosperity of 



JERUSALEM. 



239 



the capital. Especially was Jerusalem consecrated as 
the abode of the ark of the covenant, which for along 
time had been in exile; Mount Zion became hence- 
forth the symbol of God's kingdom in his church. 
And yet the full height of its glory was not attained 
until King Solomon had endowed it with the imperial 
majesty of his reign. He inherited the fruit of 
David's vast conquests. On the platform of Mount 
Moriah, he reared the temple of Jehovah, splendid 
with hewn stone and polished cedar, and brilliant with 
gold, spacious colonades and glittering pillars. On 
Mount Zion was a palace for the king, elsewhere one 
for the queen. A grand bridge was made to span the 
valley between Zion and Moriah, giving a royal ascent 
to the house of the Lord. Water was brought from 
a distance, and the lower suburbs became a paradise 
of gardens. Now Jerusalem became a joy and a 
praise of the whole earth. 

After the time of Solomon, Jerusalem continued to 
be the capital of the kingdom of Judah, and all the 
kings of Judah lived and reigned there for a period of 
400 years. Then, on account of the wickedness of 
the people, God permitted Nebuchadnezzar, king of 
Babylon, to take the city. He destroyed the city and 
carried the people into captivity. Jerusalem lay in 
ruins for seventy years. After this God brought the 
Jews back to their own land again. He raised up 
Ezra and Nehemiah to rebuild the city and the temple. 
Still another temple was built afterwards by Herod 
the Great. It is said to have taken forty-six years in 



THE HOLY LAND. 



building. It was larger and more splendid than the 
Temple of Solomon. After all, the chief thing that 
makes Jerusalem interesting to us is because here Jesus 
spent so much of his time, teaching and working mira- 
cles. Above all, because it was here He suffered upon 
the cross, and rose from the grave. 

About fifty years after the death of Christ, a Ro- 
man army came and beseiged Jerusalem. They came 
at the time of the great feast, and the city was full of 
people. Many more perished by famine than by the 
swords of the Roman soldiers. Jerusalem was taken, 
and the city lay in ruins for a long time. After this 
the Turks got possession of it. Then, after many 
bloody battles, the Christians of Europe took Jerusa- 
lem, but they were not able to keep it very long. The 
Turks took it again, and it is still in their hands. The 
following are the dates of the different conquests of 
Jerusalem. 

96. The first siege appears to have taken place 
soon after the death of Joshua. The men of Judah 
and Simeon fought against it and 
took it, and smote it with the edge 
of the sword, and set the city on fire (Judges 1, 8). 
Jerusalem was taken by David about 1044 B. C. 
He took the castle of Zion, which is the city of David, 
and dwelt in the castle (2 Sam. 5, 6). Then David 
built round about, from Millo and inward, and Joab 
repaired the rest of the city. 

As long as Solomon lived the visits of foreign pow- 
ers to Jerusalem were those of courtesy and amity; 



242 



THE HOLY LAND. 



but with his death this was changed. Rehoboam had 
only been on the throne four years when Shishak, 
king of Egypt, invaded Judah, and advanced against 
the capital. Rehoboam opened the gates to him, and 
Shishak did not depart without plundering the temple 
and the palace (B. C. 886). 

In the reign of Jehoram the son of Jehosophat, 
the Philistines and Arabians attacked Jerusalem, broke 
into the palace, spoiled it of all its treasures, sacked 
the royal harem, and killed or carried off the king's 
wives and all his sons but one (B. C. 88 1). 

Amaziah, king of Judah, victorious over the Edom- 
ites, was foolish enough to challenge Jehoash, king of 
Israel. The battle took place at Bethshemesh, twelve 
miles west of Jerusalem. Amaziah was routed, and 
the victorious Jehoash, after the gates of Jerusalem 
had been thrown open to him, broke down four hun- 
dred cubits length of wall, from the corner gate to the 
gate of Ephraim (B. C. 857). 

And now approached the greatest crisis that had 
yet occurred in the history of the city. Hezekiah 
reformed the worship and declined to be dependent on 
Assyria. Sennacherib came with an Assyrian army. 
It would appear that the city escaped but at the cost 
of the treasures of the palace and the temple 
(B. C. 700). In the middle of the long reign of 
Manasseh, Jerusalem was taken by Assurbanipal, the 
grandson of Sennacherib (B. C. 650). 

During the reign of Jehoiakim, Jerusalem was vis- 
ited by Nebuchadnezzar with the Babylonian army r 



JERUSALEM. 



243 



lately victorious over the Egyptians at Carchemish, 
and it was thought that there must have been a siege, 
but we have no account of it. Jehoiakim was suc- 
ceeded by his son Jehoiachin, and hardly had his short 
reign been begun before the terrible army of Babylon 
reappeared before the city, again commanded by 
Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 24). Jehoiachin surrendered 
and the city was pillaged. Jehoiachin being carried 
off to Babylon, his uncle Zedekiah was made king ; 
but he was imprudent enough to seek the help of 
Pharaoh Hophra, of Egypt, and upon this Nebuchad- 
nezzar marched to Jerusalem again and began a regu- 
lar siege. The walls and houses were battered with 
rams, and missiles were discharged into the town. 
After some days a breach was made in the north wall, 
and the city suffered all the horrors of assault and sack. 
Zedekiah had stolen out of the city on the south side, 
but was pursued and overtaken. The Babylonians 
burnt the temple, the palace and other public build- 
ings, and threw down the city walls (B. C. 577). 

Without pursuing the history further in detail, 
notice the following conquests before Christ. In the 
year 305 the city was taken by Ptolemy, son of Lagos ; 
in 219, by Antiochus the Great ; in 170, by Antiochus 
Epiphanes ; in 163, by Antiochus Eupator; in 139, by 
Simon ; in 63, by Pompey ; in 37, by Herod. The 
city was utterly destroyed by Titus A. D. 70. In 614 
A. D. it was taken by Chosroes II. ; in 637, \>y Omar; 
in 1099, by the Crusaders; in 11 87, by Saladin ; in 



244 



THE HOLY LAND. 



1832, by Muhammed Ali ; in 1834, by the Fellahin, 
and in 1 840 Syria was restored to Turkey. 

97. For 1,500 years nobody cared about the city 
of Herod ; the city of David was thought of by few. 

It was the city of the Holy Sepul- 

RENAISSANCIS. '4. A ^TU 

cnre tor most 01 Christendom. The 
only object of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem was to visit 
the sacred sites. But about fifty years ago two very 
remarkable books appeared — Robinson's Holy Land 
and Ferguson's Jerusalem. But even Robinson saw 
little of the ancient glory. Because the modern city 
was small and mean, pent within narrow walls, it 
seemed to him that it must have been always small 
and mean. He could see no deep valleys which made 
the heads of those who looked down from the temple 
wall to turn giddy. Therefore there never had been 
any such valleys. Ferguson, too, for his part, started 
with the assumption that Jerusalem was a little place. 
He attempted to prove its littleness by the most curi- 
ous historical arguments. The number of defenders 
was small. Therefore the statements of Josephus 
about the numerous population were exaggerated. 
But Josephus carefully explains why the fighting men 
were so few. Again, the walls were quite small in 
extent ; therefore the army of Titus must have been 
small ; therefore the generally received number of the 
Roman legion must be reduced by half. But Ferguson 
could not reduce the number. He simply looked 
through the telescope from the wrong end, and saw 
the city many times smaller than it really was. 



JERUSALEM. 



245 



The researches of exploration have restored the 
splendors of the ancient city. We have proved how 
vast the wall of the temple was, and how within this 
wall rose the gleaming white marbles of the inner 
house with its courts and its altars. The city stood 
upon several hills, which were more or less easy to 
defend by fortifications, and offered some choice to the 
monarch desirous of building a palace, a tower or a 
temple. The variety of hill and ravine and water- 
course finds frequent mention in the history, and is 
sometimes so much intertwined with the events related 
that it becomes necessary to look at the topography 
before we can hope to understand the narrative. For 
instance, we should like to know which part of Jeru- 
salem was called the City of David ; because David 
built a house there (2 Sam. 20, 3), and most of the 
kings of Judah were buried there. Again, when we 
read that David gave orders to place Solomon upon 
the king's mule, and bring him down to Gihon, and 
proclaim him as king (1 Kings 1, 33), we would like to 
know these localities and how they stood related to 
each other. 

98. Jerusalem lies near the summit of the broad 
mountain ridge, which extends from the plain of 
Esdraelon to the desert on the south. Its height at 
Jerusalem is 2,500 feet above the 
level of the sea. The city is cut off 
from the country round it on the west, south and east 
sides, by ravines more than usually deep and precipit- 
ous. These ravines leave the level of the table-land, 



246 



THE HOLY LAND. 



the one on the west, and the other on the northeast 
of the city, and descend rapidly until they form a 
junction below its southeast corner. The eastern one, 
the valley of the Kedron, commonly called the valley 
of Jehosophat, runs nearly straight from north to south. 
But the western one, the valley of Hinnom, runs south 
for a time, and then takes a sudden bend to the east 
until it meets the valley of Jehosophat, after which 
the two rush off as one to the Dead Sea. How sudden 
their descent is, may be gathered from the fact that the 
level at the point of junction, about a mile and a 
quarter from the starting point, is more than 600 feet 
below that of the upper plateau from which they com- 
mence their descent. Thus while on the north there 
is no material difference between the general level of 
the country outside the walls and that of the highest 
parts of the city, on the three sides, so steep is the 
fall of the ravines as to leave on the beholder the 
impression of a ditch at the foot of a fortress, rather 
than of valleys formed by nature. 

The promontory thus encircled is itself divided by 
a longitudinal ravine, called the Tyropcean valley, ris- 
ing gradually from the south like the external ones, 
till at last it arrives at the level of the upper plateau, 
dividing the central mass into two unequal portions. 
Of these two, that on the west, the upper City of the 
Jews, now called Mount Zion, is the higher and more 
massive ; that on the east, Mount Moriah, is at once 
considerably lower and smaller, so that, to a spectator 
from the south, the city appears to slope sharply 



JERUSALEM. 



247 



toward the east. The central valley at about half way 
up its length, threw out a companion valley on its left 
or west side, which made its way up to the general 
level of the ground at the present Jaffa gate. One 
more valley must be noted : it was on the north of 
Moriah, and separated it from a hill on which, in the 
time of Josephus, stood a suburb, or part of the city 
named Bezetha, or the new town. Part of this depres- 
sion is still preserved in the large reservoir with two 
arches near the St. Stephen's gate. Thus the valleys 
inside of the city of Jerusalem make the form of a 
cross. 

* All around the city are higher hills; on the east the 
Mount of Olives, on the south the hill of evil counsel 
rising directly from the Vale of Hin- 
nom. On the west the ground 
rises gently, while on the north, a bend of the ridge 
connected with the Mount of Olives bounds the pros- 
pect at the distance of a mile. Towards the south- 
west, the view is somewhat more open, for here lies 
the Plain of Rephaim, commencing just at the south- 
ern break of the valley of Hinnom and stretching off 
southwest ere it runs to the western sea. This rough 
sketch of the plan of Jerusalem will enable the reader 
to appreciate the two great advantages of its position. 
On the one hand the ravines which entrench it on the 
west, south and east — out of which the rock slopes of 
the city rose almost like the walls of a fortress out of 
its ditches, must have rendered it impregnable to the 
warfare of the old world. On the other hand its junc- 



248 



THE HOLY LAND. 



tion with the more level grounds on its north and 
northeast sides afforded an opportunity of expansion. 
The western side of the city is more than one hundred 
feet higher than the eastern; but the Mount of Olives 
overtops even the highest part of the city by more 
than one hundred and fifty feet. 

99. Jerusalem is surrounded by walls some forty 
or fifty feet high, imposing in appearance but far from 
strong. For the most part they 
were erected as they now stand by 
Sultan Suleiman in the year 1542, and they appear to 
occupy the site of the walls of the middle ages, from 
the ruins of which they are mostly constructed. Or! 
the eastern side along the brow of the valley of Jeho- 
sophat the section of the wall south of St. Stephen's 
gate is of far earlier date, and is constructed in part 
of massive beveled stones. The great stone at the 
southeastern corner is estimated to weigh more than 
100 tons, and this block is one of a course of stones 
six feet in thickness, which extends along the south 
wall for six hundred feet. 

The form of the city is irregular, the walls have 
many projections and indentations, but it is easy to 
make out four sides, and these nearly face the cardinal 

points. There are at present five 
gates. r . r 

open gates in the walls of Jerusa- 
lem, two on the south, and one near the center of each 
of the other sides. They all seem to occupy the 
sites of ancient gates, and are by name : (1) The 
Jaffa gate or Hebron gate on the west, to which 



JERUSALEM. 249 

all the roads from the south and west converge. 
(2) The Damascus gate, or gate of the Column, 
on the north, from which runs the great north road, 
past the Tombs of the Kings and over the ridge 
of Scopus to Samaria and Damascus. (3) St. Ste- 
phen's gate, or the gate of Our Lady Mary, or gate 
of the Tribes, on the east, whence a road leads 
down to the bottom of the Kedron, and thence over 
Olivet to Bethany and Jericho. (4) The Dung gate, or 
gate of the Western Africans, on the south, and near the 
center of the Tyropoean Valley. A path from it leads 
down to the village of Siloam. (5) Zion gate, or the 
gate of Prophet David, on the summit of the ridge of 
the hill now called Zion. Besides these, there are 
two gates now walled up, one being the gate of Herod, 
on the north side, about half way between the Damas- 
cus gate and the northeast angle of the city; the 
other the Golden gate, in the northeast wall of the 
Haram. 

Jerusalem is not a fine city, according to western 
ideas. It is badly built, of mean stone houses, and 
its streets and lanes are narrow, dirty, and ill-paved. 
There are, however, some beautiful bits of architecture. 
There are the grand walls of the temple arch, and 
there is, above all, the intense interest of its Scriptural 
associations. 

Entering the city by the Jaffa gate w 7 e find on our 
right the citadel, with the so-called tower of David. 
The street right before us is now called the Street 
of David, and descends eastwards to the principal en- 



250 



THE HOLY LAND. 



trance to the Haram. Another main street commences 
at the Damascus gate and traverses the city from north 
to south, passing near the church of 

STREETS. r ^ 

the Holy Sepulchre, and through 
the principal bazaar, and terminating a little eastward 
of the Zion gate. These two streets divide the city 
into four quarters. The northeast is the Moslem 
quarter, the northwest the Christian quarter, the south- 
west the Armenian, and the southeast the Jewish. 
The church of the Holy Sepulchre is, of course, in the 
Christian quarter, where also we have the Latin con- 
vent, very conspicuous from its lofty position near the 
northwest angle of the city. In the Moslem quarter 
is the Serai or palace, and most of the consulates, and 
the beautiful little church of St. Anne, and, near by, 
the recently discovered Pool of Bethesda. The Arme- 
nian convent occupies a noble site on the southwestern 
hill. Near it on the north is the English church. But 
by far the most remarkable and striking building in 
this quarter of the city is the citadel, whose massive 
towers loom heavily over all around them. The Jew- 
ish quarter has no structure of note with the exception 
of the new synagogues. 

100. The sects or religions are established in Jeru- 
salem, and if their various subdivi- 

REI.IGIONS. j. 

sions are counted they amount to 
a total of twenty-four, more than half of which are 
Christian. 

The list is as follows : 
1. Abyssinians. 



JERUSALEM. 



25 I 



2. Armenians. 

3. Copts. 

4. Greeks. 

5. Jews. 

6. Roman Catholics. 

7. Maronites. 

8. Moslems. 

9. Protestants : (a) Church of England, (b) Lu- 

theran. 
10. Syrians. 

All these sects have their churches, synagogues, 
monasteries and hospices, which take up no inconsid- 
erable portion of the half-mile square of space within 
the city walls. The population of Jerusalem was esti- 
mated at 40,000 in 1890, and there has been a large 
influx since. But many of the new comers build 
dwellings outside the walls, and there is now quite a 
large suburb on the northwest. 

1 01. The Haram esh Sherif, or Noble Sanctuary, 
on Mount Moriah, is a large open space, of peculiar 
sanctity in the eyes of all true Mos- 

TBMFI/B AREA. , \ r • , , 

lems. Its surface is studded with 
cypress and olive, and its sides are surrounded in part 
by the finest mural masonry in the world. At the 
southern end is the Mosque El Aksa, and a pile of 
buildings formerly used by the Knights Templar. 
They were so named, in fact, because they occupied 
the temple area. Nearly in the center of the open 
space is a raised platform paved with marble, and 
rising from this is the well-known mosque Kuppet es 



252 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Sakhrah, with its beautifully proportioned dome. 
Within this sacred enclosure stood the temple of the 
Jews ; but all traces of it have long since disappeared, 
and its exact position was a fiercely contested question 
before the time of the recent explorations. 

The Haram is a quadrangle of about thirty-five 
acres in area. The length of the south wall is 922 
feet; the west wall is 1,601 feet long; the east wall 
1, 530 feet. The modern gateways giving entrance 
into the interior are eleven in number, three on the 
north and eight on the west. Of the ancient gate- 
ways there were two on the south, now called the 
double and triple gates; while east of the latter is the 
mediaeval entrance called the single gate, beneath 
which Col. Warren discovered a passage. On the 
east wall is the Golden gate, now closed; and two 
small posterns in the modern masonry are found south 
of this portal. On the west wall the prophet's gate- 
way is recognized as the southern of the two suburban 
gates, mentioned in the Talmud; while the northern 
suburban gate appears to have been converted into a 
tank, and lies immediately west of the Dome of the 
Rock. 

The raised platform in the middle of the Haram 
enclosure has an area of about five acres, and is an 



on this platform, covers the sacred rock, which rises 
five feet above the floor of the building, the crest 
being at the level 2,440 feet above the Mediterranean. 



DOME OF 

THE ROCK. 



irregular quadrangle. The Kubbet 
es Sakhrah, or Dome of the Rock, 



JERUSALEM. 



253 



The Dome of the Chain is immediately to the east of 
the Kubbet es Sakhrah. Here was preserved a chain, 
which was believed to drop a link at the touch of a 
perjurer. 

Entering by the gate of the Cotton Bazaar we 
stand within the temple courts. Before us are the 
steps which lead up to the platform where shoes must 
be removed; for while the outer court, like the court of 
the Gentiles, is a promenade, the paved marble plat- 
form is a sacred enclosure, not to be trodden except 
barefoot. From the bright sunlight we pass suddenly 
into the gloom of the interior, lit with dim religious 
light of the glorious purple windows. The gorgeous 
coloring, the painted wood-work, the fine marble, the 
costly mosaics, the great dome, flourished all over 
with arabesques and inscriptions, and gilded to its very 
top of all this splendor, gleams out here and there 
from the darkness. And in honor of what is this beau- 
tiful chapel built? A low canopy of rich silk covers the 
dusty limestone ledge round which the Dome of the Rock 
has arisen. According to Arab tradition, Mohammed 
ascended to heaven from this rock. They show the 
impression of the hand of the angel Gabriel, as he 
held the rock down to prevent it from following the 
prophet. Even more mysterious than the sacred rock 
is the sacred well below it. Descending a flight of steps 
at the southeast corner of the rock we enter a cave, in 
the rocky floor of which is a circular slab of marble, 
which returns a hollow sound when struck, but which is 
never uplifted. The Arabs appear to regard it as the 



254 



THE HOLY LAND. 



mouth of Hell, for they call it the well of souls, and 
have a dread of the consequences if any evil soul 
escape. 

The ground of the Haram enclosure is honeycombed 
with tanks, into some of which the water finds its way 
by unknown channels. One of the tanks is called the 
great sea, and would hold 2,000,000 

RESERVOIRS. ■ ' ' 

gallons of water; another would hold 
1,400,000; and all the tanks together 10,000,000 of 
gallons at least. This would be more than a year's sup- 
ply for the city in its Jbest days, a valuable resource in 
times of siege. 

Under the Haram area, at the southeastern part, 
are the vaults known as Solomon's stables — thirteen 
rows of vaults of various spans. They were used as 
Solomon's stables by the Crusaders, and the 

stables. holes in the piers by which the horses 
were fastened may still be seen. The name of 
Solomon's stables is supposed to have been given 
by the Crusaders, who may, however, have been 
guided by some earlier tradition. The vaults are in 
part ancient and in part a reconstruction, probably 
about the time of Justinian (sixth century A. D.). 

102. The Jews' Wailing Place is outside the Haram, 
and not very far from the southwest corner. From 
the Jaffa gate we may reach it by going down David 
JEWS' wailing street and through the fruit bazaar, 

pi,ac:e. an( j then turning through a by-lane. 

The Wailing Place is a narrow court, in which the 
temple rampart happens to be free from houses and 



JERUSALEM. 



255 



open to the street in the Jews' quarter. Every Friday 
the court is crowded with Jews who come to read and 
pray and bemoan the condition of their temple, their 
holy city and their scattered people. The scene is 
striking from the great size and strength of the mighty 
stones, which rise without door or window up to the 
domes and cypresses above, suggesting how utterly the 
original worshipers are cast out by men of alien 
race and faith. Here we may see venerable men 
reading the book of the law, women in their long 
white robes kissing the ancient masonry, and praying 
through the crevices of the stones, Russian Jews, Ger- 
man Jews, Spanish Jews, men, women and children, 
with gray locks or blue-black hair, or russet beard, 
and dressed variously according to their country — 
strange and unique is the spectacle ! It reminds one 
forcibly of the unchanged character of the Jews. 
After nineteen centuries of wandering, they are still 
the same as ever, still bound by the iron chain of Tal- 
mudic law. 

103. Jerusalem is at present supplied with water 
by its cisterns. Every house of any size has one or 
more of them, into which the winter rains are con- 



private cisterns are generally vaulted chambers with 
only a small opening at the top, surrounded by stone- 
work, and furnished with a curb and wheel. Many of 
them are ancient. But besides these covered cisterns 
in the houses and courts, there are many large open 



WATER 
SUPPLY. 



ducted by little pipes and ducts from 
the roofs and court yards. These 



256 



THE HOLY LAND. 



reservoirs in and around the city. In the upper part 
of the valley of Hinnom, west of the city, is the Birket 
el Mamilla, often called the upper pool of Gihon. 
Lower down in the same valley, and not far from the 
southwestern angle of the city wall, is the Birket es 
Sultan, frequently called the Lower Pool. Because 
these pools are clearly related to one another as upper 
and lower, it has been usual to assume that they are 
the upper and lower pools of Gihon, which seem to be 
referred to in 2 Chron. 32, 30, and elsewhere. But 
although the Sultan's pool has been called Gihon from 
the fourteenth century downwards, it is known to have 
been constructed by the Germans only two centuries 
before, and the word Gihon means a spring head. 
From the Sultan's -pool we may ride down the deep 
valley, on the south bank of which is the traditional 
Aceldama, with the tombs of many Christian pilgrims, 
till we come to Bir Eyub (Joab's Well), where the 
valley of Hinnom unites with the valley of the Kedron. 
The Crusaders, who were never too well informed, 
identified Joab's well with the Biblical en Rogel (see 
page 222). From this place we ride northwards to the 
junction of the Kedron with the Tyropoean, and there, 
in a verdant spot, we find the pool of Siloam, with dry 
stone walls and a little muddy water. With the vil- 
lage of Siloam on our right, we ride up the Kedron 
valley some three hundred yards, and arrive at the 
fountain of the Mother of Stairs, also called the Vir- 
gin's Fountain (En Rogel). Descending by a flight 
of sixteen steps we reach a chamber, its sides built of 



JERUSALEM. 



257 



old stones and its roof formed of a pointed arch. Then 
going down fourteen steps more into a. roughly hewn 
grotto, we reach the water. The flow is intermittent, 
due, it is supposed, to a natural syphon, and the 
waters rise suddenly, immersing the folks, fully clothed, 
nearly up to the neck. The water wells up in the cave, 
and when it has attained a height of four feet seven 
inches runs away through a passage near the back, 
into a small tunnel, and goes to the supply of the pool 
of Siloam. 

About one hundred yards northeast of St. Stephen's 
gate is the pool of Our Lady Mary, outside the walls. 
Within the city, on our left, as you enter by St. 
Stephen's gate, is the Birket Israil, or Pool of Israel, 
probably a trench to defend the north wall of the tem- 
ple area. It is now a receptacle for ashes and rubbish 
of all kinds ; but it has at some time held water, for 
Warren found the bottom lined with concrete sixteen 
inches thick. We need only mention further the pool 
of Hezekiah, a large reservoir which lies in the center 
of a group of buildings, in the angle made by the north 
side of David street, and the west side of Christian 
street. It is stated that a subterranean conduit from 
the Birket el Mamilla passes underneath the city wall 
near the Jaffa gate, and supplies both the Pool of 
Hezekiah and the cisterns of the citadel. 

In ancient times water was brought in the city by 
two aqueducts — the "Low level" and the "High 
level" — but the course of the former can alone be 
traced within the walls of the city. It crosses the valley 



258 



THE HOLY LAND. 



of Hinnom a little above the Birket es Sultan, and, 
winding round the southern slope of the modern Zion, 
enters the city near the Jewish alms- 

AQUEDUCTS. , . . , , 

houses; it then passes along the east- 
ern side of the same hill, and runs over the causeway 
and Wilson's arch to the Sanctuary. The numerous 
Saracenic fountains in the lower part of the city appear 
to have been supplied by pipes branching off from the 
main, but the pipes are now destroyed, and the fount- 
ains themselves are used for receptacles for the refuse 
of the town. This aqueduct derived its supply from 
the Pool of Solomon (near Bethlehem), from Ain Etam, 
and a reservoir in Wady Arub, and it still carries water 
as far as Bethlehem. Its total length is over fourteen 
miles, not far short of the length of the aqueduct which 
Josephus tells us was made by Pontius Pilate. This 
aqueduct was repaired by the Baroness Burdett Coutts 
some years ago, but the Arabs broke it up in a few 
days, as it interfered with their business of selling 
water in the streets of Jerusalem. The Sultan has 
recently caused a survey to be made with a view of 
restoring to the city its ancient water supply. 

The high level aqueduct, called by the Arabs that 
of the "unbelievers," is one of the most remarkable 
works in Palestine. The water was collected in a 
rock-hewn tunnel four miles long, beneath the bed of 
Wady Byar, a valley on the road to Hebron, and 
thence carried by an aqueduct above the head of the 
upper pool of Solomon, where it tapped the waters 
of the sealed fountain. From this point it wound 



JERUSALEM. 



259 



along the hills, above the valley of Urtas to the vicin- 
ity of Bethlehem, where it crossed the water shed, and 
then passed over the valley at Rachel's tomb by an 
inverted stone syphon, which was first brought to 
notice by Mr. Macneil, who made an examination of the 
water supply for the Syria Improvement Committee. 
The tubular portion is formed by large perforated 
blocks of stone set in a mass of rubble masonry ; the 
tube is fifteen inches in diameter, and the joints, which 
appear to have been ground, are put together with an 
extremely hard cement. The last trace of this aque- 
duct is seen on the plain of Rephaim, at which point 
its elevation is sufficient to deliver water at the Jaffa 
gate and so supply the upper portion of the city ; but 
the point at which it entered has never been discovered, 
unless it is connected in some way with an aqueduct 
which was found between the Russian convent and 
the northwest corner of the city wall. 

104. In the beginning of 1867, Col. Charles Warren 
of the English Royal Engineers, began his work of ex- 
cavating in Jerusalem, under the employ of the Lon- 
don Palestine Exploration Fund. Scores of shafts 
were sunk through the accumulated 

BBD ROCK. & 

rubbish, and were always carried 
down to the natural rock. In cases where the miners 
came upon artificial structures, arches, aqueducts, cis- 
terns, or other works of man, they were carefully 
explored and measured, and plans were made of them. 
The work was continued until 1870, and the results 
are recorded in the Jerusalem volume of the Memoirs 



26o 



THE HOLY LAND. 



of the Fund. Let us glance at some of the more 
striking discoveries. 

On the west side of the Haram wall about 39 feet 
from the southwestern angle, a great stone was seen 
robinson'S projecting from the wall. Dr. Rob- 

arch. inson believed it to be the spring- 

stone of an arch, perhaps the first arch of a bridge 
going to the upper city. The span of the arch should 
be about 42 feet. And, sure enough, at "that distance 
from the wall, Warren discovered the pier of the arch, 
resting on the rock at a depth of 42 feet. It is 1 2 feet in 
thickness, and 52 feet in width, and constructed of 
stones similar to those in the wall. Two courses of 
stones were still in place. To the west of the pier is 
a rock-hewn channel, and a pavement extends from 
the pier to the Haram wall. A little further north 
was discovered another arch of 42 feet span, called 
Wilson's arch, under which a road used to pass in the 
Middle Ages. The street over it now is 80 feet above 
the bed-rock. At the southeastern angle of the Tem- 
ple area the wall is about 70 feet above the ground; 
but there is an accumulation of nearly 100 feet of 
rubbish and stone chippings lying against the wall. 
The true bed of the Kedron is 40 feet west of its 
present surface bed. From the Virgin's fountain there 
runs a tunnel through the hill of Ophel to the Pool of 
Siloam; this tunnel winds about so much that it takes 
1,708 feet in going a distance of 900 feet. In 1880 
an inscription was found upon the ceiling of this tun- 
nel midway, describing the meeting of the two parties 



JERUSALEM. 



26l 



of excavators. It is probably the oldest bit of He- 
brew writing that we possess. 

A very interesting feature of great economic im- 
portance is the geological formation of the plateau on 
geologic which the city stands. The upper 

formation, strata are beds of hard reddish and 
gray stone, called Misseh; the lower of a soft, easily 
worked stone, known as Melekeh. The latter bed, 
which is some 35 feet thick, underlies the whole city. 
The great quarry which is entered under the northern 
wall, all the great subterranean reservoirs, nearly all 
the tombs, the Siloam aqueduct, and the caverns at 
Siloam are hewn out of it. It was largely used for 
building purposes. The Misseh beds, however, yield 
the best and most durable building material, and the 
stones from these beds can be surely recognized in the 
walls by their sharp edges and their superior state of 
preservation. 

104. The first substantial houses were the palaces 
of the king, next the buildings of the Maccabean 
times; then those of Herod, when the city was cov- 
ered with beautiful and stately palaces, synagogues 
and theaters. The Byzantine period pulled down the 
synagogues, while it pillaged and persecuted the Jews, 
and used the building materials for the erection of 
monasteries, churches and hermitages. The Saracens 
came next, but they built nothing of importance except 
the Dome of the Rock, and that by the help of Byzan- 
tine architects. Under the rule of the Saracens things 
fell to pieces, and the thistles and nettles grew over 



262 



THE HOLY LAND. 



them, where they lie to-day, waiting for the explorer 
to dig them up. The Crusader, in his 100 years' of 
occupation, built churches and castles, but he was the 
most destructive of all, for he not only used the old 
stones, but he refaced them and carved them after his 
own fashion. The Turk, like the Saracen, has left 
things to decay. Modern civilization is even more 
destructive, because every new industry that is started 
builds up more of the old stones into new walls. The 
inscribed stone of Herod's temple, the only inscription 
a tbmp^ ^ft of the temple, containing, word 

stone. £ or wor d, the warning quoted by 

Josephus, the only stone of which we can be certain 
that stood in its position when our Lord was in the 
temple was found by a Frenchman, Mr. Ganneau, in 
1 87 1. It bears the following inscription in Greek in 
seven lines: 




TEMPLE INSCRIPTION. 



JERUSALEM. 



263 



The translation is: " No stranger is to enter within 
the balustrade round the temple and enclosure. Who- 
ever is caught will be responsible to himself for his 
death, which will ensue." The episode in the Acts of 
the Apostles, 21, 26, throws great light on this precious 
inscription, and receives light from it. Paul, after 
purification, presents himself in the temple; the peo- 
ple immediately rise against him, because certain Jews 
of Asia believed that Paul had introduced a Gentile, 
Trophimus of Ephesus, and had thus polluted the 
sacred place. They are about to put him to death 
when the tribune commanding at Fort Antonia inter- 
venes and rescues him. The people demand of the 
tribune the execution of the culprit, that is, the appli- 
cation of the law. This inscription, and probably this 
very stone, was almost certainly seen and read by 
Christ; and it would be likely to impress him painfully 
with the exclusive spirit of the Jews. It was the work 
of Christ to break down the middle wall of partition 
between Jew and Gentile. 

The temple probably stood near the center of the 
Haram area, with the rock Es Sakhrah under the 
dome of the mosque, either as the stone of foundation 
on which the ark rested or the site of the altar of 
burnt offering. The temple courts descended in 
courses round the Holy House ; so that the temple and 
altar must have been on top of the hill. And, in fact, 
it has been demonstrated that the level of the various 
courts ascertained by the number of steps leading to 



264 



THE HOLY LAND. 



them, can be brought into accord with the actual level 
of the rock in this part of the Haram. 

The other structures of interest were Herod's pal- 
• ace, which lay to the south of the tower of David ; 
Agrippa's palace on the eastern brow of Mount Zion, 
the Xystus on the low ground beneath it ; the house 
of Ananias the high priest, which was 

PALACES. 

near Wilson's arch, and which was 
perhaps the same place as the house of Caiphas to 
which Christ was taken ; the Hippodrome south of the 
temple, which can apparently be traced south of the 
Haram wall, and the tomb of Herod, perhaps that 
prepared for Aristobulus, which must have been close 
to the Birket Mamilla. 

105. Another question which has attracted much 
attention latterly, is that connected with the sites of 
Golgotha and the Holy Sepulchre. The question may 
be considered under three heads : 

CAI/VARY. 

(1) Did Constantine ascertain the 
exact localities of the crucifixion and burial of Christ ? 

(2) Does the Church of the Holy Sepulchre 
stand on the ground once occupied by Constantine's 
churches ? 

(3) Where should the true sites be sought ? As 
to the first question Constantine followed no tradition, 
but his discovery was regarded as a miracle. If there 
had already been a tradition as to the site, that fact 
would have been mentioned. The second question 
may be answered in the affirmative ; during the last 
twenty years large excavations have been made, and 



JERUSALEM. 



265 



important discoveries. The church has retained its 
circular form. 

The Bible gives only very slight indications of the 
position of Calvary. At the time of the crucifixion the 
third wall had not yet been built, and a branch of the 
great road from the north ran along the hill to the 
Castle of Antonia. It seems also probable that, as the 
sin-offering was to be burnt without the camp and 
north of the altar, Christ, the antitype, suffered in the 
same relative position. The knoll above Jeremiah's 
grotto was identified with Golgotha first by a German 
— Otto Thenius — in 1849, and that identification has 
since been strongly advocated by Major Conder, Gen. 
Gordon and others. It is near the northern road, and 
it has a northerly position in regard to the temple 
enclosure ; it is said to have been the place of the Jew- 
ish house of stoning. It was the Roman custom to 
crucify beside the main road, so as to terrify the people. 
We cannot, however, be sure of the place of crucifixion, 
and it is perhaps fortunate that it is so. 

106. The large building to the west of the Church 
of the Holy Sepulchre is the Greek convent. The 
I/Argh large open square on the south is the 

buii/dings. Muristan, or the ruined castle of the 
Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. The west is a 
deep reservoir, 240 feet long by 140 feet wide, called 
Hezekiah's. Pool. The new hotel near the Jaffa gate 
faces south, and across the street is the. American con- 
sulate. The large group of buildings on the western 
wall is the citadel, consisting of a group of five square 



266 



THE HOLY LAND. 



towers, the largest of which, the Tower of David, is 
one of the most ancient buildings in the city. Oppo- 
site the citadel is the English church, with the parson- 
age adjoining. The southern portion of Mount Zion 
is occupied by the Armenians. Outside the Zion gate 
is the Tomb of David, in which is shown the chamber 
of the Last Supper. The eastern portion of Zion is 
mostly occupied by Jews, and there a synagogue has 
been recently built by Baron Rothschild. 

107. A much disputed point is the position of the 
tomb of David, and the tombs of his successors. It is 

tomb of possible that the tomb was of Phce- 

david. nician type, a shaft leading down 

from the surface of the ground to a large chamber 
excavated in the Melekeh bed, and that it has escaped 
observation. The most probable site for it seems to 
be on the eastern hill, just above the Pool of Siloam, 
where there is a curve in the conduit that runs between 
the pool and the fountain of the Virgin. 

108. Another interesting question is the true posi- 
tion of Zion. Unfortunately Josephus does not men- 
tion Zion, and the Bible notices give 

SION. . . . . ? 

no exact indication 01 its position; 
though many of them mention it in such a way as to 
lead us to believe that the mount on which the temple 
was built is intended. On the other hand, Josephus 
says the citadel taken by David was on the west- 
ern hill, and this hill has been identified with Zion 
since the fourth century. 

An interesting subject for inquiry is the extent of 



JERUSALEM. 



267 



pre-exilic Jerusalem. Some are of the opinion that it 
was confined to the eastern hill; but 

EXTENT. _ p • , mi ■ - rr • 

the area of that hill is insufficient 
for the large population which must have lived in the 
city during the reigns of Solomon and some of his suc- 
cessors. There is no indication anywhere in the Apoc- 
rypha or in Josephus that the city bounds were 
enlarged between the rebuilding of the walls by Ne- 
hemiah and the reign of Herod. My own view is that 
the city was of gradual growth. The first settlers 
established themselves close to the spring of En Rogel 
at the base of the eastern hill. The town gradually 
extended up the hill, and an acropolis was then built. 
When David took the city, it consisted of the Acro- 
polis on Mount Zion, and the walled town beneath. 
David fortified more strongly the Acropolis, and made 
it his place of residence. During Solomon's reign, 
the trade between the east and the west, owing to the 
circumstances of the times, passed through his domin- 
ions. The wealth and population of Jerusalem in- 
creased rapidly, and it was probably during this pros- 
perous period that the western hill was surrounded by 
a wall and brought within the limits of the city. As 
time went on, a second wall was added on the north, 
but there was no further increase until the third wall 
was built by Agrippa after the crucifixion. 

109. The great Catholic churches, the Roman, the 
Greek and the Armenian, have their sacred sites in 
the city especially along the Via Dolorosa, or the Way 



268 



THE HOLY LAND. 



of Sorrow, along which it is said Christ was led to 
the cross. 

The first station of the cross is situated in the sol- 
diers' barracks of the Turkish infantry, on the spot 
where once stood the Tower of An- 

S ACRED SITES. . _ _.. , 

tonia, and Pilate s judgment hall. 
It is indicated by a small chapel ; here Christ was 
condemned to death. The second station lies under 
the front, steps of the barracks ; here the cross was 
placed upon Jesus. Passing under the arch of 
Ecce Homo, down into the valley opposite to the 
Austrian hospice, we find the third station where 
Jesus fell under the weight of the cross. It is marked 
by a low column in the Armenian convent. We now 
turn to the left into a street coming from the Damas- 
cus gate, and after a few steps just opposite the second 
street leading east is the fourth station, the house of 
Lazarus, the poor man in the parable (Luke 16, 19) ; 
where Jesus met his mother. On the corner, as the 
street turns to the right, is the house of the rich man, 
the fifth station, where Simon the Cyrenean took up the 
cross of Jesus. The sixth station, one hundred steps 
further on, is marked by a stone in the left-hand wall ; 
here Jesus said to the daughters of Jerusalem: Weep not 
for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children 
(Luke 23, 28). The seventh station is one hundred 
steps further, on the left, through an archway ; it is a 
subterranean chapel, where the holy Veronica wiped 
the sweat from the Saviour with a handkerchief, on 
which remained a picture of the face of Jesus. The 



JERUSALEM. 



269 



eighth station is at the corner of another street coming 
from the north ; it is the so-called gate of judgment. 
The ninth station is inside the yard of the Church of 
the Holy Sepulchre, in front of the Coptic convent ; 




THE; HOI,Y sepulchre. 



here Jesus fell the third time. The tenth and eleventh 
are in the chapel of the Roman Catholics on Golgotha, 
where Jesus was disrobed and where he was nailed to 
the cross*. The twelfth is in the Greek chapel of the 
raising of the cross ; here Jesus was crucified. The 



270 



THE HOLY LAND. 



thirteenth is shown at the altar between the places of 
the eleventh and the twelfth, and it is the station of 
the descent from the cross. The fourteenth is the 
Holy Sepulchre itself. 

In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is shown the 
sepulchre itself, in a small room. It consists of a 
marble box covered with a marble slab, above which 
lamps are perpetually burning. Under the roof of this 
church many sacred sites are crowded: the stone on 
which the body of Christ lay while being embalmed ; 
the spot where his mother stood watching the process ; 
the place at which the angel sat on the stone that had 
been rolled away from the door of the sepulchre ; the 
place where Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene ; the 
porphyry column where Jesus was bound for scourging; 
the prison where he was confined ; the place where he 
was mocked ; the rent w T hich the earthquake made 
which followed his crucifixion ; the spot where the true 
cross was found ; the hole in the rock where it was set ; 
the spot declared by our Saviour Himself to be the 
center of the world ; the tomb of Melchizedek ; the 
burial place of Adam. 

After all, it is perhaps best that in Jerusalem we 
should not be able to find many authentic ruins of Bible 
times. It is enough that on every side we see temples 
not made with hands, where we breathe from austere 
mountain crests and waving plains, once the home of 
king and of prophet, the nameless, formless essence of 
the past. The soul is thus better able to deal with its 
maker directly, without thought of the workmanship 



JERUSALEM. 



271 



of human hands. And a more awful and a more sat- 
isfactory sense of the remote comes to us from those 
changeless hills and valleys than could have reached 
us from mutilated columns and a crumbling architect- 
ure. But still the walls of Jerusalem have a grandeur 
in their titanic blocks, and that sublime space of plat- 
form, where once stood the Holy Temple, and that 
eternal rock which rises from its floor. Still hovers 
the sweet sunshine in the misty olives above Kedron, 
making us forget those filthy streets and crumbling 
relics. The paths and the palm shades, the mount- 
ains, vales and lakes, all these precious reminiscences 
and sweet pictures will forever remain in the mind of 
the pilgrim, a constantly increasing source of delight. 




BR3AD MAKING. 




272 



VIIyl^AGE OF SII.OAM. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 

In the little hill-town of Nazareth there lived, 
nineteen hundred years ago, a carpenter named Joseph, 
a widower, with sons and daughters — poor, of course, 
with such a calling in so small a village, but a man of 
high worth, fearing God and respected by his neigh- 
bors. He was engaged to a maiden named Mary, but 
it was the custom of those who had thus been prom- 
ised in marriage to each other to wait sometimes for 
years before the wedding took place. 

Nazareth. Apr. B. C. 5. Luke 1, 26, 38. As 
Mary sat in her house one day, an angel suddenly 
annunciation appeared and saluted her with these 
to mary. words: < ' Hail, Mary, thou art highly 
favored; the Lord is with thee." Then the visitor, 
who was no other than the Angel Gabriel, told her 
that she was to be the mother of a son, who would be 
great, and would be called Holy, and the Son of the 
Most High, and bear the name of Jesus. He also 
informed her that her cousin Elizabeth was to have a 
son in her old age. 

Judaea. May B. C. 5. Luke 1, 39-56. So, after 
a few months, she determined to visit Elizabeth and 
talk of these wonderful things. It was a long journey, 
at least a hundred miles, from Nazareth to He- 
bron. The meeting would be a touching one to both 
18 273 



274 



THE HOLY LAND. 



of the saintly women; and it has left us as its result 
on the part of Mary, the grandest hymn of the New 
Testament, called, from the first 

MARY'S VISIT ' ' 

to ei,i3a- word in the Latin Vulgate Bible, 
beth. ^ e ti Magnificat. " It begins: My 

soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath 
rejoiced in God, my Saviour. For he hath looked 
upon the low estate of his handmaiden. For, behold, 
from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. 
What a song for a young Hebrew girl of humble sta- 
tion ! Mary staid about three months with Elizabeth, 
and then she turned her face to the north, and made 
her way to her home at Nazareth. 

I. Period of Preparation; from his Birth to his 
Baptism.* 

(i) Bethlehem. Dec. B. C. 5. Luke 4, 1-7. 
About four years before the time from which we date 
birth of * ne birth of Christ, Octavius Caesar 

christ. Augustus, the Roman emperor, had 

sent a command to Herod, king of the Jews, to cause 
all of his subjects to go to the towns or villages from 
which their families had at first come, or where they 
held property, that their names, and the value they 
owned in land or otherwise, might be registered for 
taxation, or for the military service. Away in Naza- 
reth, Joseph had married Mary, as an angel had told him 
that she would have a son, and that the child's name 



*The numbers in parenthesis at the beginning of each topic in 
this chapter refer to the numbers in the small circles on C. B. 
Petford's map of the Journeys of Jesus. 



theL journeys OF JESUS. 



275 



was to be Jesus, that is Salvation, because he would 
save his people from their sins. But this command 
of Herod obliged them to go to Bethlehem, a hill- 
town a few miles south of Jerusalem, between eighty 
and ninety miles from Nazareth; both of them being 
descended from David, the great king of Israel, and 
Bethlehem being the place where he and his father 
had lived. 

Anyone who has been to the Holy Land can pict- 
ure to himself how they traveled. Nothing is more 
common than to see a husband walking along side an 
ass, on which his wife sits, with a child in her arms. 
Mary and Joseph would go down the steep bluff above 
the Plain of Esdraelon, then across the broad, glorious 
plain; then through the rough path near Engannim, 
leading to the uplands of Samaria. Then would come 
Samaria, where Joseph would be troubled to find 
shelter, for fear of defiling himself, as a strict Jew, 
by anything Samaritan. Next day they would be at 
Nablus, the ancient Shechem; then they would rest 
near Gibeah, the next day they would be at Jerusalem, 
from which a short journey of six miles would bring 
them to Bethlehem. When Mary and Joseph reached 
Bethlehem, it was so full of strangers coming like 
themselves to be registered, that no house had room 
to receive them. The only accommodation they could 
have was in the place where the household ass and 
other animals had their nightly quarters; and there, in 
so lowly a shelter, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the 
world and the Son of God was born, very soon after 



276 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Mary reached Bethlehem. A cave under the high 
altar of the Church of the Nativity, at the end of the 
little town, is shown as the spot thus greatly honored. 
Thirteen steps lead down to it, but it looks very little 
like a cave when you reach it, for it is paved and 
lined round with marble, and lighted by thirty, two 
lamps, as of course it has no light from the sun. 

(2) Bethlehem. Dec. B. C. 5. Luke 2, 8-20. 
The birth of an earthly prince is announced by 



world unnoticed even by the villagers of Bethlehem, 
while Jerusalem, three miles oft, learned of his birth 
only after long delay, when a star was guiding wise 
men from the east to his cradle. But if it was 
unnoticed on earth it was a great event in Heaven; 
so great that a choir of angels, for the first and last 
time in the history of our world, came to gaze on the 
babe as he lay in the manger, and showed themselves, 
before they returned again to their glorious home, to 
a band of shepherds then lying out through the night 
with their flocks on the hills near Bethlehem. The 
slopes pointed out as the scene of this miracle stretch 
away some distance on the east of the town, rising 
gently with a faint greenness — the vegetation covering 
the gray stony soil. Beyond them are the barren 
hills of the wilderness of Judaea, sinking steeply to the 
Dead Sea. The angels told the shepherds of the com- 
ing of the Saviour, Christ the Lord; and that they 



angers 

AND 

SHEPHERDS. 



royal salutes, and the swiftest agen- 
cies carry the new T s to every land; 
but the Son of God came into the 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 277 

would find the babe lying in a manger. The shep- 
herds hastened down the hill, over the little green 
valley, and up the steep side of the hill of Bethlehem, 
and found Mary and Joseph and the babe. It is no 
wonder that they returned to their flocks glorifying 
and praising God for all the things that they had heard 
and seen. 

(3) Jerusalem. Feb. B. C. 4. Luke 2, 21. It 
was a custom that every Jewish boy should be pre- 
sented in the Temple with his mother 
prbsbnta- m \ 

tion in the for the rite of purification, when he 
was about six weeks old. She 
would go in the early morning, for coolness, and after 
riding past the tomb of Rachel, which still rises at the 
side of the road, not far from Bethlehem, would pass 
slowly on till she came to the spot over against the 
temple, where, it may be, Abraham made his young 
man stay while he went to offer Isaac on Mount 
Moriah. Then, going down to the valley of Rephaim, 
or the Giants valley, often a field of battle between 
Israel and the Philistines in the old days, she would 
either turn to the right, and go along the valley of 
Hinnom and Jehosophat, to the foot of the steps lead- 
ing on the east, to the Golden Gate, or she would 
keep on, northwards, across Hinnom and mount the 
gradual ascent to the northwest gate, passing in 
front of Herod's palace, with its frowning castles, and 
making her way from them through the rough sloping 
lanes of the city, to the entrance of the woman's 
court on the east side of the temple. Ascending the 



THE HOLY LAND. 



steps of the beautiful gate of the temple, so called 
from its being covered with plates of shining Corinth- 
ian brass, more costly than gold, she and the other 
women who had come for the same purpose as herself 
would wait there till the priest came and received 
their offerings. Joseph and Mary were so poor that 
they could present only the modest sacrifice of doves, 
just as a very lowly mother might offer the smallest 
silver coin to the church treasury, instead of the 
richer gifts of some of her neighbors. Worshipers 
had already assembled for the morning sacri- 
fice, and, among others one Simeon, an old 
man known by his neighbors as righteous and 
devout, and one of the few who wearily looked for the 
consolation of Israel under all its troubles, by the 
coming of the Messiah. Taking the babe Christ in 
his arms, he blessed God for having seen that hour, 
and cried : Now lettest thou thy servant depart, O 
Lord, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Beside 
Simeon, there was another whose joy at the appear- 
ance of Christ is told us ; a very old woman, Anna, a 
prophetess of the northern tribe of Asher, who had 
been a widow for eighty-four years, after having been 
married for seven years. Having no worldly cares in 
her humble old age, this saint almost lived in the 
temple, frequenting it at all hours when it was open. 
She too, being present when Jesus was brought in by 
his mother, gave thanks to God on seeing him ; the 
joy so filling her heart, that, feeble as she must have 
been, she spread the news among all who were looking 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



279 



for redemption in Jerusalem. So humble were the 
heralds who proclaimed the coming of the true Mes- 
siah — some lowly shepherds, the aged Simeon, and 
the still more aged Anna. Thus silently rose the 
light of salvation on the earth, like the noiseless rising 
of the day over a sleeping world. 

(4) Bethlehem. B. C. 2. Matt. 2, 1-12. Sometime 
after the birth of our Lord, the arrival of some strangers 
visit of thb * n J erusa l em > from the east — perhaps 
wish men. from Persia or the countries near it, 
roused Herod's suspicions and fear respecting his 
throne. These wise men from the east had seen a new 
star and had regarded it as a signal of the coming to 
earth at last of some great Jewish leader ; so they 
had come to pay him reverence. Herod called these 
magi before him secretly and told them to find out 
exactly all about the young child, and bring him 
word, that he might go to him and worship him ; but 
God did not allow his crafty scheme to succeed. 
Having found that Bethlehem was the place to which 
they were next to turn, the wise men left Jerusalem 
and set out for the village. It must have made a 
great stir in the quiet village, when such a visit was 
paid to the lowly virgin and her child. They pre- 
sented rich gifts and worshiped the child Jesus. 
Herod waited anxiously for the return of the magi to 
Jerusalem, that he might learn all about the child who 
was to be heir to his throne and put aside his chil- 
dren. If he could get information which would enable 
him to kill the infant secretly, it would prevent possi- 



28o 



THE HOLY LAND. 



ble trouble among a people so easily excited as his 
subjects. 

(5) Egypt. B. C. 2. Matt. 2, 13-23. But our 
Lord was not to be thus destroyed. A warning given 
flight by God, in a dream, was enough to 

into egypt. prevent it, the magi returning to 
their own country apparently by crossing from Beth- 
lehem to the steep path of Engedi on the Dead Sea, 
and thus passing the Jordan at Jericho. Still Mary 
and the child were not safe ; but a dream sent to 
Joseph soon put them beyond the reach of 
the king. Rising by night, in obedience to the 
vision, and hurriedly setting out, they left Beth- 
lehem secretly and traveled southward to Egypt, 
where they were in no danger. The road lay first to 
Hebron, through a rough track between gray hills ; 
then westward over the broad ridge in the hollow of 
which Hebron lies, and down a wild pass which, in a 
few miles, sinks 2,000 feet to the low hills which over- 
look the Philistine plain. They would go then, by 
Gaza, along the track which runs towards Egypt a 
little back from the shore. It would take many days 
before they reached the banks of the Nile. Egypt had 
for ages been full of Jews, so that Joseph would have 
no difficulty in getting a living amongst his own people, 
especially as life is very simple in such a climate as 
that of the Nile. Fuel is never required except for 
cooking, and there is very little of that, the bulk of the 
people living on fresh or dried fruit, bread and vegeta- 
bles. How long Mary and Joseph remained on the 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



28l 



Nile is not told ; but they did not return till nev/s of 
the death of Herod had reached them, and then they 
went back to Nazareth. 

(6) Nazareth. B. C. 2 to A. D. 8. Luke 2, 39-40. 
We are told very little about the childhood of our 

childhood at Lord ; but after a time he would be 
nasareth. sent to the village school, and the 
synagogue or Jewish church would also teach him 
much, for he would always be there with his mother, 
not only on Sabbaths, but when she could attend at 
other times, for it was open every day for prayers. 

(7) Jerusalem, A. D. 8. Luke 2, 41-50. At twelve 
years of age a Jewish boy was regarded as old enough 

visit to to ta ^ e on himself the duty of observ- 

jerusalem. i n g the law, and for this purpose was 
taken by his parents to the passover at Jerusalem. It 
would take four or five days to go from Nazareth to 
Jerusalem, for no beast in the Holy Land goes faster 
than at a walk, and there would be many pilgrims on 
foot. Food for the journey would be a small matter 
in such a climate ; bread, some soft cheese, a little 
olive oil, some dried figs or raisins, and a bit of salad, 
when it could be got, with a drink of water or of sour 
milk, sufficing for the moderate wants of the native 
travelers, even now ; sleeping in the open air on the 
way to the passover would be no self-denial, for the 
moon shone bright and the air was delicious with the 
first warmth of spring. To cover the head from the 
night mist as they lay down beside their fire, if they 
had not a tent, would be the only precaution taken by 



282 



THE HOLY LAND. 



the pilgrims. Jerusalem, especially at the passover, 
must have had a wonderful charm for the child Jesus ; 
and the sights round the city would be as w r onderful as 
the city itself. Mary, no doubt, felt that she could 
trust a boy so thoughtful as Jesus was to go about the 
city alone. So he made his way each morning to the 
rooms under the temple portico, where reverend mas- 
ters in Israel gathered their disciples, and there he 
spent the day at their feet, the most eager and intelli- 
gent of their scholars. 

At last the time came for the virgin and Joseph to 
join the returning northern caravan. The large band 
of pilgrims, among whom Joseph and Mary were to 
travel, set out in the afternoon, and came to their first 
halt, when, to their alarm, Mary and her husband found 
that Jesus was not to be seen in the whole cavalcade. 
Nothing remained but to return to Jerusalem to find 
him. On the third day he was found in the temple, 
before the doctors of the law, hearing them and ask- 
ing them questions so acutely, that the gray-haired 
rabbis were amazed at his intelligence. Poor Mary, 
overjoyed to see him again, could not help asking 
him, Son, w T hy hast thou thus dealt with us ? 
Behold thy father and I sought thee sorrowing. But 
the strange boy had an answer ready which must 
have seemed very strange from one so young : How 
is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be 
in my Fathers house ? So early did he look up to 
God as especially his Father ; so early was his 
Father's house the place, where as a matter to be 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



283 



taken for granted, he might have been known to betake 
himself. 

(8) Nazareth. A. D. 8 to A. D. 27. Luke 2, 
51-52. Of the eighteen years of our Saviour's life 

eighteen that followed, we know nothing, for 
years at he was about thirty years of age 
Nazareth. w h en h e next appeared in the story 
of the Gospels. We may be quite sure he earned 
his daily bread by his own labor as early as he could. 
His father's trade would be carried on as that of the 
local carpenter is still, in a small shop, with bare stone 
walls and arched stone roof, timber being scarce. It 
might have a small bench, but some carpenters' shops 
have only a plank fixed on the floor, beside which the 
workmen sit cross-legged, planing or sawing. All 
orientals, indeed, sit on the ground, when possible, 
whether in the open air or within doors. It seemed 
certain that Joseph did not live till our Lord began 
his public teaching, as he is not mentioned in the 
Gospels after the opening chapter. 

II. Period of Inauguration; from His Baptism to 
His Rejection at Nazareth. 

(9) Jordan. Jan. A. D. 27. Luke 3, 21-23. 

At the age of thirty, Jesus made his appearance at 

Enon to be set apart by Tohn to his 
baptism. *■ J 

great omce. 1 hey had never seen 

each other though cousins, but something about him 

at once arrested John's attention. No wonder John 

shrank from baptizing our Lord. He felt that Jesus 

was sinless ; from that hour the humble villager of 



284 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Nazareth became the publicly ordained Redeemer of 
the world. 

(10) Judaea. Jan. and Feb. A. D. 27. Luke 4, 
1 -1 3. To enter on so great a work, however, needed 

especial preparation. He resolved 

TEMPTATION. . . 

to retire for a time to prepare for 
his future. To what part Christ withdrew himself is 
not told us, but the yellow cliffs behind Jericho are 
still known by the name of quarantania, or the place of 
the forty days' sojourn. The fiercest attacks of Satan 
were kept back till there was least power to resist 
them. No thought of personal interest or ambition 
disturbed him. His mission was to advance the 
glory of his Father, and the welfare of mankind. 
We need not think of Satan as present in human 
form, or as an angel of darkness, when he came 
to put our Lord to the proof. He is never spoken of 
in the New Testament as visible, except when Jesus 
saw him fall as lightning from Heaven. The three 
temptations appealed to the lust of the flesh, the lust 
of the eye, and the pride of life. 

(11) Jordan. March A. D. 27. John 1, 35-42. 
As John was standing one day among his followers, 

three Jesus himself approached ; he was 

disciples s tiH unknown, but the very end of 
John's mission was that he should 
be made manifest to Israel. And the hour had now 
come to draw aside the veil. Pointing to him, there- 
fore, while yet at a distance, he told them to behold 
the Lamb of God. Of the first two disciples one was 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



285 



Andrew, a fisherman from Bethsaida, on the Lake of 
Galilee ; the other, doubtless, was the Apostle John. 
Noticing the two following him, Jesus lovingly awaited 
their approach. Seeking his permission to be his dis- 
ciples by the modest question, where he had his 
home, they were invited to share it with him. Andrew 
hastened to his brother Simon, and soon returned with 
him, thus bringing Peter for the first time within the 
spell of Christ's word and presence. 

(12) Cana. March, A. D. 27. John 2, 1-11. Cana, 
the ' ' reedy place, " was a busy village in the days of our 

FIRST Lord. A marriage was about to take 

miracle. place in the circle of Mary's friends, 
and she and her son were invited. As it happened, 
the supply of wine in the Cana household ran short, 
so that shame before his neighbors threatened the 
bridegroom. Mary ventured to hint to her son the 
state of affairs. As the first public evidence of his 
divine power the water became glowing wine. This 
was the first miracle. 

(13) Jerusalem. Apr. 11-17, A. D. 27. John 2, 
13-22. The temple offered a strange sight at the 

cleansing season of the passover, for in parts 
of thb of the outer courts a wide space was 

covered with pens for sheep and cattle 
to be used for offerings. Jesus was greatly troubled 
by all this. Young, unknown and a Galilean, he had 
no authority to interfere ; but such scenes roused his 
soul. Hastily tying together some small cords, he 
commanded them to leave the Temple. The money 



286 



THE HOLY LAND. 



changers fared worse, for their tables were overturned. 
For the first time in many years the Temple was really 
sacred to God. 

(14) Jerusalem. John 2, 23 to 3, 21. Nichodemus 
thought he would be welcome into the Kingdom of 

visit of the Messiah, and wished simply to 

nichodemus. learn the duties this would require 
of him. But Christ saw into his heart. So far from 
making any attempt to win him, his whole ideas were 
upset by the first words of our Lord. He must be 
born again if he would even see the Kingdom of God. 

(15) Judaea. John 3, 22. Jesus had now re- 
mained in Judaea about nine months, from April to 

chrisx ' December, A. D. 27. But he had 

baptising. gained but few followers among the 
bigoted people of the South. 

(16) Enon. Dec, A. D. 27. John 3, 23-36. Our 
Lord was now attracting greater numbers than the 

john'S Baptist. John, however, gently told 

testimony, them that he expected that now 
that Christ had come forward, he himself should lose 
popularity. Incapable of any feeling but devout 
homage towards Jesus, he seized the opportunity to 
announce afresh that every one must accept Jesus as 
the Messiah. 

(17) December, A. D. 27. John 4, 1-3. Leav- 
ing the city by the Damascus gate through which 

departure years' later he was to pass on his 
fromjud^a. wa y t the cross, our Lord's journey 
lay first through the great cemetery. Here he after- 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



287 



wards found a tomb. The long ascent of the birth- 
place of Samuel, the highest summit in Judaea, comes 
in sight very soon. Bethel lies to the right of the 
road. 

(18) Sychar. Jany. A. D. 28. John 4, 4-26. 
Close under Gerizim, at the mouth of the valley, 

woman of there was then as there is still a 
samaria. we ]j famous as that dug by the 
patriarch Jacob to avoid disputes with his neighbors. 
Tired as he was with his long walk and by the heat, 
our Lord gladly turned aside to Jacob's well. A 
Samaritan woman came up with a water jar on her 
head, and a long cord in her hand, with which to let 
the jar down into the well. Entering into conversation 
with her, he soon brought the woman to say that she 
thought it would be well to put off such deep matters 
till Messiah came. You need not wait, I that speak 
unto thee am he. This was the first open declaration 
of himself as the Messiah, and it was made to a 
lowly Samaritan woman, as the first announcement of 
his birth had been made to simple shepherds. 

(19) Capernaum. March, A. D. 28. John 4, 46-54. 
After staying two days at Sychar, Christ went on 

nob^man'S northward toward Galilee. An offi- 
SON - cial in the palace of Herod Antipas 

at Tiberias, who had a house at Capernaum, had 
heard of the amazing cures Christ had effected at 
Jerusalem, and having an only son ill of fever, he 
resolved to ask the miraculous aid which had done so 
much elsewhere. He went himself to Christ at Cana, 



288 



THE HOLY LAND. 



and besought him to come down quickly and heal his 
child. He fancied that Christ would need to go to 
Capernaum with him, and perhaps touch the sufferer 
to effect a cure; but a proof was to be given that dis- 
tance made no difference to the Saviour. Go thy 
way, thy son liveth, said Jesus; it was enough, for he 
could not doubt that Jesus had the power he claimed. 
Next morning some of his slaves met him with the 
news that the boy was getting better, and that the 
fever had left him on the previous day at about one 
o'clock. 

(20) Nazareth. March A. D. 28. Luke 4, 16-30. 
His mother and family had returned to Nazareth, and 

first rbjbc- h e P r °bably went to her, but only 
tionat to be rejected by his fellow-citizens. 

Passing down, therefore, to Caper- 
naum, he made it from this time his own city, going 
out from it to the districts round preaching and work- 
ing miracles. 

III. Period of the Early Galilean Ministry. 

(21) Capernaum. April, A. D. 28. Luke 4, 31-41. 
Jesus rose early and went out to the lake; unable to 
address the crowd from the beach, he made the prow 

a day of °f a boat his pulpit. Jesus did not 

miracles. g that night to Peter's house but 
withdrew to the hills, spending the hours till morning 
in devotion. Morning prayer in the synagogue began 
at nine, and as the news had spread of the great 
miracle worker being in town, there was a large congre- 
gation. Among those present was an unhappy man 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



289 



possessed by a spirit of an unclean devil. When 
Jesus began to speak the man arose from the ground 
and, with a wild howl that must have curdled the 
blood of all present, yelled out: Ha, what have we to 
do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? I know thee 
who thou art, the Holy One of God. Jesus would 
have no honor from such a source; the demon felt its 
master, but demon to the last, threw the man down 
in the midst of the congregation, tearing him as he 
did so, and then with a wild shriek, fled out of him. 
Service over, he left with his four disciples for Peter's 
house; but only to find that the mother-in-law of his 
host lay ill of the local fever. Jesus rebuked the dis- 
ease, raised her by the hand, doubtless with words 
and looks that made her his forever. As soon as the 
synagogue horn announced that the stars were begin- 
ning to shine, and that the Sabbath was ended, the 
people began to gather from all the town and even 
from the country around, bringing the sick to the great 
healer, it being now lawful to do so, as the week day 
had commenced. 

(22) Capernaum. Apr., A. D. 28. Luke 5, 1-11. 
It was upon this day that Jesus called four disciples 

FOXJR into his immediate service. Their 

disciples, names were : Simon, Andrew, 
James and John. 

(23) Capernaum. Summer of A. D. 28. Luke 5, 
17-26. It appears as if Peter's house had been one of 
two stories ; and that our Lord spoke from the upper 
floor, so as to address both the people in the house 

19 



THE HOLY LAND. 



and those in the court. Suddenly a commotion in the 
throng showed that somebody sought admission below 
and could not obtain it. A poor young man, helpless 
from paralysis, had been brought on a cot by four 
the man bearers, to get him into the pres- 

borne by ence of the great healer. Finding 
that they could not push through, 
and resolved to gain their point, they carried the sick 
man up the rough stone steps at the side of the 
house, and thus got to the roof, where, as in many 
houses still, there was a kind of hatchway, closed in 
the rainy months, but opened in the summer, to let 
the family out to the roof from inside by a short lad- 
der. Raising this hatch the bearers had gained their 
end. The sufferer was soon at the feet of our Lord. 
He was even more stricken in soul than in body. My 
child, said Christ, thy sins are forgiven thee. The 
Rabbis said, who can forgive sins but God ; this is 
blasphemy. This was the turning point in the life of 
our Lord, for the accusation of blasphemy, now 
raised, was to bring him to the cross in the end, and 
he knew it. No one could tell whether the sick man's 
sins were really forgiven, but there could be no mis- 
take in raising a living corpse to life and strength. 
That ye may know that the son of man has authority 
on earth to forgive sin, I say rise up, young man, take 
up the mat on which you have been lying, and go 
home. He stood erect, and would have kneeled in 
adoration, but he could not be allowed to stay. Both 
the healer and the healed left the room, Jesus sad at 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



291 



heart, for the shadow of the cross had fallen on his 
soul. 

(24) Capernaum. Summer, A. D. 28. Luke 5, 27 
to 32. Another disciple is now to be added. Among 

cai,i, of those especially impressed by his 

matthew. teaching, a publican named Matthew 
or Levi had shown himself worthy of a place among 
his apostles. The publicans were those who- collected 
the taxes, an office universally hated and disreputable. 
Jesus in passing invited him to become his disciple. 
Resigning his office at the earliest opportunity, after 
settling business matters connected with it, he left all 
and followed his new master. There was to be no 
caste in Christianity. Matthew expressed his joy and 
gratitude by a great feast. 

(25) Capernaum. Luke 6, 1-5. During a Sab- 
bath, day's walk the Rabbis assailed Jesus. He had 

plucking his disciples through ripening 

grain. fields of barley. It was permitted 

both by law and by custom to pluck ears' enough to 
satisfy hunger. This simple act, however, involved 
two offenses against the rabbinical laws, and eyes were 
ever upon the watch to report the breach. To pluck 
the ears was a kind of reaping, and the rubbing was 
a kind of grinding or threshing. Besides, all food 
eaten on the Sabbath must be prepared on Friday, and 
the rubbing was a kind of preparation. On any other 
day, what had been done would have been blameless ; 
but to break the Sabbath laws, rather than to wait for 
the night, when the Holy Day ended, was an offense 



292 



THE HOLY LAND. 



worthy of stoning. But for his wide popularity 
among the lower classes, by whom the rabbinical rules 
were little regarded, he would at once have been 
arraigned before the church courts, which could inflict 
any punishment short of death. 

(26) Galilee. Luke 6, 6-1 1. Another violation of 
the laws of the Sabbath soon followed, in one of the 

the with- synagogue services. A man with his 
erbd hand, right hand withered by paralysis 
attracted the attention of Jesus. Scribes and Phari- 
sees were on the watch. Their Sabbath rules were 
very strict. For toothache, vinegar might be used in 
the mouth, if afterwards swallowed. In the case of a 
sore throat oil might be swallowed, but not used as a 
gargle. But Jesus never feared to do right. Looking 
at the paralyzed man he bade him stand forth. Is it 
lawful, said he to the scowling Rabbis, to do good on 
the Sabbath day or to do evil, to save life or destroy 
it ? To such a question they could give no answer. 
Stretch forth thy hand, he said to the poor man, and 
immediately it was whole like the other. Thus he was 
again at issue with the religious leaders of the people, 
and it was clearer than ever that he condemned them. 

(27) Capernaum. Summer, A. D. 28. Luke 6, 
12-19. But though thus hated by the Jewish authori- 

TwEr,vB ties, his popularity with the law- 

apost^s neglecting multitude continued to 

CHOSEN. . j , 1 • j 

increase, and the widening success 
of his work made it necessary to select from his fol- 
lowers such as might hereafter become his apostles. 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



293 



The band chosen was limited to twelve, perhaps in 
allusion to the twelve tribes of past Jewish history. 
When about to select them he spent the whole pre- 
vious night in solitary prayer ; he had only the lowly 
to choose from, but these, with one exception, were 
worthy. The selection was strangely various. Mat- 
thew was at once a publican and a Levite ; but there 
was also a Simon who had belonged to the zealots, or 
irreconcilables of the nation — the fiercest class among 
a fiercely-bigoted race. Peter, we know, had a wife, 
and tradition alleges that all the rest, except Thomas 
and the sons of Zebedee, were also married. Seven 
of the twelve belonged to Capernaum — Peter and his 
brother Andrew, James and John, James the Little, 
and Jude, further known as Lebbaeus, the " stout- 
hearted" or Thaddeus the ' ' brave," and Matthew 
the publican. Philip belonged to Bethsaida; Nathan- 
iel, or Bartholomew, came from Cana, behind Naza- 
reth; Thomas, known also as Didyrnus, or the "twin," 
was born — it is not said where ; Simon the zealot came 
from some part of Galilee, and thus, there was only 
one apostle from Judaea — Judas, the traitor, from Keri- 
oth, in the south of Judah. 

(28) Kurn Hattin. Summer of A. D. 28. Luke 6, 
20-49. Numerous fragments of the discourses of our 
sermon on Lord are preserved in the Gospels, 

the mount, but no continuous address is given 
except the Sermon on the Mount, which appears to 
have been delivered immediately after the choice of the 
twelve. The scene of the memorable discourse was in 



294 



THE HOLY LAND. 



all probability a height, the two ends of which rise into 
low peaks, known as the Horns of Hattin. Hattin is 
a rough outburst of black basalt, the two peaks form- 
ing only part of the sides of an ancient crater. Enter- 
ing this there is a large level space strewn with volcanic 
stones of all sizes and thick with tall woods. A 
very large crowd could gather in Hattin, and a teacher 
could easily seat himself on some point above them, 
so as to make his voice reach far and near. In the 
Sermon on the Mount there is no mention of priests or 
rabbis, the religious despots of the time. For the first 
time in the history of religion there is no mention of 
priesthood or temple. We hear only of holy love and 
true righteousness. It is a clear explanation of the 
fundamental idea of the Kingdom of the Prince of 
Peace. Prayer, the cry of the heart to God, had become 
the subject of endless rules in Christ's day, its value 
being made to depend on the exact repetition of set 
forms, with due postures, and a correct adjustment 
of little charms called phylacteries on the arm and fore- 
head. Not content with larger phylacteries than were 

common, and larger 
tassels at the corners 
of their scarfs, as a 
sign of extra godliness, 
phylactery ox the arm. they pretended that the 
long prayers of the synagogue were all too short, 
and repeated them over and over wherever most 
people could see their zeal. All this Christ sternly 




THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



295 



condemned. Sincerity alone gave prayer its worth, 
and would court retirement rather than publicity. 
No wonder that, when he ended the multitudes were 
astonished at such teaching. He had spoken as a 
lawgiver of greater authority than Moses. 

IV. Period of the Later Galilean Ministry. 

(29) Capernaum. Luke 7, 1-10. It must have 
been about this time that, on his return home, a 



came on behalf of one who was not a Jew by birth. 
Herod Antipas kept a small garrison in Capernaum, 
under the command of a centurion who was kindly 
disposed toward Judaism, and who had shown his 
good will by building for them a synagogue, perhaps 
the one of which the ruins still remain at Tell Hum. 
One of his slaves had been struck down by paralysis. 
He had so much confidence in the power of Christ 
that he believed he could heal him by a word; that 
the demons were as much under the authority of Jesus 
as his own soldiers were under his command. Verily, 
said Christ, I have not found so great faith, no, not in 
Israel. And the slave was healed in that very hour. 

(30) Nain. Luke 7, 11-17. The next day our 
Lord was far from Capernaum, having walked over 
the hills and across the plain of Esdraelon, to the 
mountains of Gilboa, which run out into the wide 
plain, leaving at its eastern end only a narrow stretch 
of plain on each side of them. He was making 



CENTURION'S 
SERVANT. 



deputation of Jewish magistrates 
waited on him. Strange to say they 



296 



THE HOLY LAND. 



for Nain — " the beautiful," — then a good-sized village 
on the northern slope of Gilboa, a little above the 
valley, but now a miserable hamlet. 

WIDOW'S SON. 1 j 111 , r 

As he reached the town, the funeral 
of the only son of a widow was passing to the 
grave. It was not meet that death should triumph in 
his presence. Stepping towards the mother, he told 
her not to weep, and then, having stopped the bier, 
he went to it regardless of the defilement of a corpse, 
which would have made a Rabbi keep as far as he 
could from it, and laid his hand on the open frame on 
which the dead lay. Young man, he said, I say unto 
thee, arise. It was enough. He that was dead sat 
up and began to speak, and he delivered him to his 
mother. 

(31) Galilee. Luke 7, 36-50. The hatred of 
Christ had not as yet gone so far as to shut him out 
anointing altogether from society. A phari- 

of jestjs. see named Simon, was liberal 
enough to invite him to his house and table, perhaps 
out of curiosity to see him and hear him ; for the 
usual civilities of washing were for some reason with- 
held from Jesus at this time. But there was a poor 
woman near, who made up for the omission by serv- 
ing Jesus herself. The men were greatly shocked at 
her presence as she silently glided into the room. 
Kneeling down outside the couch on which Jesus was 
reclining at meal, she began to anoint his feet with 
fragrant ointment ; but, as she did so, her tears fell so 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



297 



fast on them, that she wiped them with her hair. She 
was in sore trouble of mind. But Christ soon kindled 
hope in her breast by his gracious invitation, while 
she gave free vent to her mingled sorrow and grati- 
tude. The pharisee was horrified ; but Jesus address- 
ing the woman, told her : Your sins are forgiven ; 
your faith has saved you ; go in peace. 

(32) Galilee. Luke 18, 19-21. About this time, 
Mary, his mother, and the half brothers and sisters of 
Jesus, came down from Nazareth to 

VISIT OF J 11 a 1 

mother and see their relative. As it happened, 

BRETHREN. they could not g et to f Qr t ^ e 

crowd. He had no time to spend with mere earthly 
relationships. Stretching his hands towards those 
around him, Behold, said he, my mother and my 
brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my 
Father in heaven, the same is my brother and sister 
and mother. 

(33,) Galilee. Luke 8, 22-25. One night, as he 
was being rowed over the lake, the weariness of the 
the tempest long day's work soon brought deep 

sti^ed. sleep, though the rough planks of 
the rude fishing boat were his only couch. A sudden 
storm such as is common on the lake, swept down 
from the hills, and at once raised the waves so that 
the boat was nearly swamped. Jesus, however, lay 
still asleep. At last, in their alarm, the disciples 
ventured to arouse him, and appealed to his pity 
to save them. Rising with calm self-possession, he 



298 



THE HOLY LAND. 



gently chided their fears, and then addressing the wind 
and the sea, as if they had been living powers, he 
commanded them to be still. Immediately a great 
calm spread around. 

(34) Gergesa. Luke 8, 26-39. On reaching the 
other side of the lake, near the half-heathen city of 

gadarbnu Gadara, now Khersa, a furious mad- 
demoniac. man, whom no chains could bind, 
rushed out with wild cries. Jesus commanded the 
devils to leave the poor man; but they, true to their 
nature, would fain do some harm even in departing. 
On the open ground near, a great herd of swine, the 
abomination of the Jew, were feeding, owned by some 
one who supplied the heathen market of Gergesa with 
such food, and with swine to sacrifice. Send us into 
them, cried the devils, and do not drive us into the abyss; 
a request followed, when granted, by the whole herd 
rushing violently down the cliff into the lake, where 
they were drowned. This raised so great an excite- 
ment that he was forced to return to Capernaum. 

(35) Capernaum. Luke 8, 40-56. He had scarcely 
landed again at his own town, when a demand which 

jairus' ^ e cou ld n °t resist was made on his 

daughter. sympathy. The only daughter of 
Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogue, a girl of 
twelve, lay at the point of death. Before Jesus could 
get to the house a message came that the little sufferer 
was dead. When he arrived, the death chamber was 
already full of neighbors, friends, wailing women, and 
players upon dirge flutes, making great lamentation. 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



299 



Putting all out but the father and mother of the child, 
he went in with Peter, James and John, who were to 
witness his triumph over the king of terrors. Taking 
the dead one by the hand, and using the dialect of his 
northern people, Talitha cumi, Damsel arise, the spirit 
returned to the pale form, and she rose and walked. 
It was a sign, however, of his danger from the Rabbis, 
that he enjoined silence as to the miracle, lest his 
enemies might be still more excited against him. 

A touching incident had happened on the way. A 
woman troubled for many years with an internal ail- 
ment which no physician could relieve, came behind 
him in the crowd, and ventured to touch the tassel of 
his garment. Slight as was this contact, it sufficed to 
heal her, but He felt what had been done, and turn- 
ing, asked who had touched him. No longer able to 
hide her act, and alarmed lest she might be punished 
by the renewal of her trouble, she fell down before him 
and told him all the truth. It was enough. Daugh- 
ter, said he, thy faith hath made thee whole ; go in 
peace and be whole of thy plague. 

(36) Capernaum. A. D. 29. Matt. 9, 27-34. On 
the way from the house of Jairus two blind men fol- 
bi^ind men lowed him to Peter's house, appeal- 

ANI> ing to him to restore their sight, and 

DEMONIAC. , ? _ °. 

this He did by a touch 01 their eyes, 
in return for the faith shown in his power. Another 
miracle recorded of those days was the casting out a 
devil from one who was dumb, so that the sufferer 



THE HOLY LAND. 



henceforth spoke freely. But no proofs of His divine 
gifts could silence the bitterness of his enemies. 

(37) Nazareth. Matt. 13, 54-58. Jesus had 
never visited Nazareth since leaving it, and, no 
doubt he yearned to remove from 

SECOND J 

rejection his mother and her friends, the 
at na^areth. j m p ress j ons rece j ve( j f rom the con- 
stant calumnies of the Rabbis. In company with his 
disciples he soon set out, and was soon under his 
mother's roof. When Sabbath came he had the joy of 
attending worship in the synagogue, while his mother 
sat behind the lattice in the woman's gallery. After 
the reading of the law, he stood up in silent offer to 
read the lesson of the day from the prophets, and he 
was forthwith called to the desk to do so. The lesson 
was taken from Isaiah (Is. 61, 1), and it spoke of him- 
self in words that could not be misunderstood. Then, 
sitting down, he began, as was the custom, an expla- 
nation of the passage, applying the predictions of the 
prophet to himself. But to his hearers it seemed 
sheer blasphemy that one whom they had known from 
his childhood should advance such lofty claims for 
himself. They could not believe that he could be 
justified in claiming to be the subject of Isaiah's 
prophecies. As the murmuring rose louder and 
louder, Jesus at last turned against his assailants, and 
told them that, if they wanted to prove his claims by 
such miracles as he had wrought elsewhere, he would 
not do so, since they were so prejudiced. He would 
rather act like Elijah, who withdrew from Israel when 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



30I 



it rejected him, and went to the heathen widow of 
Sarepta ; or like Elisha, who healed only Naaman 
the Syrian, though there were many lepers of his own 
race in the land. Their hardness of heart would 
drive him to turn to those who were less obdurate. 
They could stand no more. Furious at the mention 
of the heathen being preferred in any case to their 
own nation, the whole congregation rose in wild 
clamor, and drove him towards one of the many steep 
walls of rock round the town, to cast him down head- 
long. But his time was not yet come. Passing 
through the fierce mob, he left the town unhurt — 
never to return. 

(38) Bethsaida. Luke 9, 7-17. Christ and the 
apostles met once more in the neighborhood of Caper- 
fbbding five n aum, after their temporary separa- 

thousand. t j on on the farther side of the 
Sea of Galilee the country rises and falls, to the north- 
east, into green slopes and pleasant valleys running 
up, in those days to the town of Bethsaida Julias. 
From Capernaum the spot looks like a green bay ris- 
ing gently from the lake. What a delightful place in 
which to find a retreat from the crowds that thronged 
his pathway ! But his boat had been watched. The 
point to which he was making was six miles by water, 
and for such a crowd to follow, boats were not to be 
had. Rather than lose him, however, the people set 
off on foot, crossing above the marshes and reaching 
Christ from the northwest. As it was near the time 
of the passover, a large number of the eager multi- 



302 



THE HOLY LAND. 



tude were on their way to Jerusalem, and the peas- 
ants of the villages round about brought with them 
their sick that they might be healed. Ascending the 
slope, and gathering all before him, he spake to them 
of the Kingdom of God, and taught them many 
things. Meanwhile evening approached, and they 
would soon need to return home. Food could not be 
had in that lonely place ; how could they even get 
back without it, for many had come from far ? Feel- 
ing this the apostles urged our Lord to dismiss them. 
Instead of doing so, he ordered that they first be all 
fed. Forty dollars' worth of bread would, however, 
only give a morsel to each, and they only had five 
small flat cakes of barley bread and two small fishes. 
But these were abundance with Christ at hand. Make 
them sit down, said he. This done, Jesus took the 
loaves and the fishes of the apostles, and having first 
thanked the eternal Father for them, broke off por- 
tions to the twelve to hand to the crowds. But to 
their unspeakable wonder, in dividing these, they so 
multiplied as not only to satisfy the hunger of five 
thousand men, besides women and children, but to 
leave enough, after all had eaten, to fill twelve of the 
little /ood baskets or wallets which Jews always car- 
ried with them. As the effect of such a miracle, 
murmurs ran through the crowds that Jesus must be 
the Me ssiah, and they were ready to put him at their 
head, and to march against the hated Romans. But 
such dreams had no charm for our Lord, and so he 
hurriedly left them, retiring into the hills, 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



303 



(39) Sea of Galilee. John 6, 16-21. The apos- 
tles, however, not liking to leave without him, waited 
walking f° r him till night, and only rowed 

on the sea. off then j n t he belief that he must 
have gone round by the head of the lake. When but 
part of the way across, a sudden squall burst upon 
them. It was the last watch of the night, between 
three and six in the wild morning, and there was still 
a third of the distance to row. Jesus had stilled such 
a storm before, but he was not with them now, and 
they were worn out. Suddenly, however, close to 
the boat, they saw, through the gleam of the water 
and the broken light of the stars, a human form walk- 
ing on the sea. Superstitious, like all seafaring men, 
they broke into cries of terror. But it was only for 
the moment. Presently, near at hand, above the roar 
of the wind and the splash of the waves, came the 
sound, Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid. Always 
impulsive, Peter could not wait till Christ came. 
Might he go to him on the waters? A moment more 
and he dashed overboard, but only to give a memor- 
able lesson, for while he kept his eyes on the Lord, 
he trod safely, but turning them in fear to the waters, 
he began to sink. The helping hand was near, how- 
ever, and the two were in the boat after a few steps, 
and then the wind suddenly lulled, and the apostles 
pulled through calm waters to the shore. No wonder 
that Peter kneeled at his feet, and owned him, for the 
first time that human lips had done so, as of a truth 
the §or* of God. 



304 



THE HOLY LAND. 



V. Period of Retirement. From Feeding of the 
Five Thousand to the Feast of Tabernacles. 

(40) Near Tyre, A. D. 29. Matt. 15, 21-28. 
Forsaking the shores of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus now 
turned to the north, taking with him 

SYROPH(E- 

nician'S the apostles. The road lay through 

DAUGHTER. , £ 1 

a pleasant region 01 green hills and 
watered valleys, as he crossed, northwest, to the edge 
of the heathen territory of Phoenicia. From the hills 
which bounded this, he must have looked down on 
the smoking chimneys of the glass works of Sidon, 
and of the dye works of Tyre ; on the lofty warehouses 
of the docks, stored with the merchandise of the 
world ; and on all the other details of the busy land of 
the Canaanite ; the blue sea stretching away, beyond, 
to the coasts of the Gentiles. He might have expected 
to remain unknown in such a. region, but it was im- 
possible. A woman, by language a Greek, by birth a 
Phoenician, having heard that he was in the neighbor- 
hood, made her way to him, pleading that he would 
cure her daughter, who was greviously vexed with a 
devil. The woman's coming to him when he was vir- 
tually in hiding was very disturbing, as it might put 
his enemies on his track. For a time, therefore, he 
took no notice of her entreaties, but she was not to 
be denied, and became only the more earnest from 
his temporary refusal to hear her. At last, the dis- 
ciples, offended at her pertinacity, urged him to send 
her away. And Christ too, said he was not sent 
except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, But 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



305 



it was impossible to silence a mother's love. Follow- 
ing him to the house, though he would fain have 
remained unknown, she cast herself at his feet and 
renewed her prayer. To the twelve, she was only a 
dog, for thus the Jews regarded all heathen. Veiling 
the tenderness of his heart in affected roughness of 
speech, Jesus added : It is not right to take the chil- 
dren's bread and cast it into the streets to the dogs. 
But with a woman's quickness, and a mother's love, 
deepened by trust in him, notwithstanding his words, 
even this seeming harshness caused her to make an 
irresistible appeal. Yes Lord, said she, it is true; 
still, the dogs are allowed to eat the fragments that 
fall from the children's table. She had conquered, 
O woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee as thou 
wilt. His word was enough, and was accepted as 
such. Going home, she found her daughter cured. 
He had seen this issue from the first, and had inten- 
tionally subjected her to a special trial, that the 
twelve might learn how even a heathen could put 
Jews to shame by her simple faith. The miracle, 
however, taught them that not even a heathen was to 
be sent away unheard. 

(41) Decapolis. Matt. 15, 29-31. Crossing the 
country to the northeast, and passing up the side of 
dbaf and Lake Merom with its sweet, open 

dumb man. valley, he traveled on to the country 
round Caesarea Philippi, and then turning south, made 
for the district east of the Lake of Galilee. Even 
there, however, his fame attracted multitudes of Jews, 
20 



306 



THE HOLY LAND. 



settled in this half-heathen region, and soon sur- 
rounded him with crowds, bringing numbers of sick to 
be healed. Only one incident is given in detail. A 
man had been brought to him who was deaf, and could 
only stammer out unmeaning sounds. Taking him 
aside, perhaps to have more freedom or to avoid excite- 
ment, he put his fingers into the man's ears, and then 
touched his tongue with a finger which he had moist- 
ened on his own lips. These simple forms may have 
been used to arouse faith where hearing was lost, and 
thus prepare the heart for the miracle to be wrought. 
Looking up to heaven, as if to raise the poor man's 
thoughts to the eternal Father, Jesus then uttered the 
simple word of the popular dialect — Ephphatha, be 
opened — and the sufferer was cured. This and other 
wonders, as was natural, soon rang throughout the land 
in spite of all command to keep them private. 

(42) Decapolis. A. D. 29. Matt. 15, 32-38. The 
vast concourse attracted by Christ may be imagined if 



sleeping in the open air natural to them, while a few 
dry figs suffice, if needs be, for their food. Still, as 
sometimes happens, even now, among the crowds of 
pilgrims at Easter, many found their provisions 
exhausted, so that not a few might have sunk on the 
way home, if no provision were made to supply them. 
Once more, therefore, the multitude were caused to sit 
on the grass, and were fed from the scanty means on 



FEEDING 
FOUR 

THOUSAND. 



we remember that it was now spring 
with its delicious air, and that the 
simple habits of the people make 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



307 



the spot, which were only seven of the thin round 
loaves of the country, and a few small dried fish from 
the Lake of Galilee. But these were enough, in 
Christ's hands, for the hunger of four thousand men, 
besides women and children ; seven baskets of frag- 
ments gathered afterwards showing there had been no 
stint. 

(43) Near Bethsaida. Mark 8, 22-26. The boat, 
meanwhile, landed them at the opening of the green 
valley at the top of the lake where 

BI/IND MAN. 1 i 1 r 1 1 1 

he had led the 5,000, and up this 
the little company went, passing through the town of 
Bethsaida Julias, so named by Herod Philip, in hpnor 
of the daughter of Augustus, his patron. But the 
journey was not to end here; Caesarea Philippi, far to 
the north, was Christ's goal. He could not, however, 
get away unnoticed. During a short rest, some one 
who had heard of his presence brought a blind man to 
him in the street, that he might be touched and healed. 
To have done so, however, in public, would have 
attracted notice, and Christ therefore took the sufferer 
by the hand and led him away to the open space round 
the village, and there, after touching the blind eyes 
with his moistened finger, he fixed the poor creature's 
thoughts upon his healer, the sightless orbs were so 
far restored, that he could see the men near in a 
cloudy haze, like trees. Another touch, and he could 
see clearly. Go to your home, said Jesus, without 
returning to the town, and tell no one about it. The 
less said of the acts or words of our Lord the safer, 



308 



THE HOLY LAND. 



at this time. The miracle had waked faith in the 
poor man, and to do good to one soul was enough for 
the friend of sinners. 

(44) Near Caesarea Philippi. Autumn, A. D. 29, 
Luke 9, 18-21. Now that Jesus had found rest and 
peter's quiet in the delightful region of Cae- 

confbssion. sarea Philippi, he determined to 
make his great self-revelation to his disciples. Retir- 
ing for a time to the privacy of the hills, to give his 
heart relief in communion with the eternal Father, he 
returned ready to make the momentous disclosure. 
Whom do men say, he asked, that I the Son of man 
am? The answer show r ed how far their ideas fell 
below the lesson of his teachings. Some say like 
Herod Antipas, that the spirit of John the Baptist has 
entered thee, and that thou workest thy miracles 
through its power, or that thou art John himself, risen 
from the dead, and appearing under another name. 
Some that thou art Elijah, who, like Enoch, never 
died, but was taken up alive into heaven, and has now 
returned, as Malachi predicted, to prepare for the 
Messiah. Following up these answers, he went on to 
ask, but whom say ye that I am? And forthwith from 
the warm, impulsive heart of Peter, came all that he 
waited to hear. Thou, my master and Lord, art the 
Christ, the son of the living God. Nor did Jesus hesi- 
tate to accept this ascription of supreme dignity. 
Blessed art thou Simon, son of Jonas, flesh and blood 
hath not revealed this to you; my Father in heaven 
has made it known to you. Intercourse with Christ, 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



309 



and even his teaching, had been insufficient. The 
revelation of his greatness was from above, and the 
confession was earnestly adopted by the other apostles 
as their own. They had at last caught a momentary 
glimpse of his true glory. 

(45) Mount Hermun. Luke 9, 28-36. Eight 
days later our Lord redeemed the promise to reveal 
trans- his divine glory to some of his fol- 

figtjration. lowers. Taking the three of his lit- 
tle band most closely in sympathy with him, and most 
prepared for the disclosure he was about to make, he 
ascended into the upper slopes of Hermon, towards 
evening, for silent prayer. Peter, James and John 
were the apostles so especially favored on this occa- 
sion ; these three were the ones who had already 
entered the death chamber in the house of Jairus, and 
these three were, hereafter, to be the only witnesses 
of the agonies of Gethsemane. As Jesus prayed, his 
soul rose above all earthly anxieties, till the divinity 
within shone through his human form, kindling his 
very raiment to brightness, like that of the snow on 
the far-off heights of Lebanon. Amidst such splendor 
the three disciples could not sleep. Roused by it they 
gazed, awe-struck, at the wonder, when, behold ! 
two human forms in glory like that of the angels, 
stood by his side — Moses and Elijah, the founder and 
the champion of the Jewish Church, which he had 
come to supercede. Their presence showed that the 
law and the prophets were henceforth to take a sec- 
ond place ; but they had also a higher mission. They 



THE HOLY LAND. 



had passed through this life to a higher, and having 
entered on their heavenly reward, were able to speak 
with our Lord as no others could, of his approaching 
death at Jerusalem and the glory that would follow. 
In such a company anxiety and conflict of soul passed 
away, not to return till Gethsemane. Henceforth he 
set his face with a calm joy towards Calvary. 

(45) Mount Hermon. Luke 9, 37-43. On de- 
scending the mountain Jesus found a crowd gathered 
demoniac round his disciples. His absence 
BOY - had brought them trouble, and they 

were hence doubly glad to see him again. A man in 
the crowd had brought a son who was liable to fits, 
that they might heal him. But their attempts to do 
so failed. Some scribes present, delighted at this, 
launched out sneers at them and their master. Sad 
at the want of faith which prevented his disciples from 
effecting a cure, Jesus rebuked them for having learned 
so little after being so long with him, and then desired 
the lad to be brought. No sooner, however, had the 
poor creature's eyes met those of our Lord than he 
fell to the ground in violent convulsions. But Jesus 
commanded the demon who possessed him : Speech- 
less and deaf spirit I charge thee come out of him. 
A wild shriek, and a dreadful convulsion followed, and 
then the boy lay still, as if he were dead. But Jesus 
took him by the hand, and lifting him up, gave him 
over to his father, amidst the loudly expressed wonder 
of all, at "the mighty power of God. 



THE JOJRNEYS OF JESUS. 



311 



VI. Period of Judsean Ministry. From the Feast of 
Tabernacles to the Feast of Dedication. 

(46) Jerusalem. Oct. 11-18, A. D. 29. John 7, 1-52. 
The Feast of the Tabernacles was held in the month 
of visit to °f Tisri, part of our September and 

the feast. October. Christ had been now for 
about six months virtually hiding from his enemies. 
But the approaching feast at Jerusalem offered a great 
opportunity of spreading the good news, and he could 
not stay away, whatever the danger. He must needs 
go up with his immediate followers only. Had he trav- 
eled with the excitable Galilean pilgrims they might 
have raised disturbance by their clamor in his favor in 
the Holy City. The feast lasted seven days and closed 
on the eighth, which was the greatest. Leaving the 
quiet of the lake, and taking the route over the 
uplands to Tabor, he crossed the great Plain of Esdrae- 
lon to Engannim, where he was once more among the 
Samaritans, with their fierce hatred of everything Jew- 
ish. This was soon to show itself. In passing through 
Samaria, as was his custom, he sent forward to ask 
shelter for the night in some village, but it was at once 
refused, because he and his followers were on their way 
to Jerusalem. John and James, in their indignation, 
would fain have had their master call down fire from 
heaven on people so unfriendly. But our Lord was as 
gentle as they were fierce, and, rebuking them sternly 
for such a spirit, he told them to go on quietly to 
another village. The Feast of Tabernacles was one of 
the three great feasts which every Hebrew was required 



312 



THE HOLY LAND. 



to attend, though, in fact, most seem to have gone up 
only once a year. It commemorated the tent life of 
Israel in the wilderness by the erection of countless 
booths of green boughs in the streets and yards, and 
on the flat roofs. Living in these, the throngs of pil- 
grims enjoyed, under the warm skies, a week of special 
holiday. The authorities were disappointed during the 
first days of the feast to find Jesus absent. Suddenly, 
however, when the rejoicings were at the highest, he 
appeared in the temple porch where the Rabbis taught, 
and, haviug sat down, began to teach the pilgrims who 
thronged to hear him. His discourses left various 
impressions on the audience. His enemies did not 
venture to touch him on account of the strong support 
which he received from not a few of the common 
people. 

(47) Persea. November, A. D. 29. Months had 
passed since the twelve had been sent out to preach 
seventy through the strictly Jewish parts of 

selected. th e country. There were more dis- 
ciples now, and it was desirable to make known the 
good news of the kingdom to Samaritans as well as 
Israelites, for Christ was the Saviour of all mankind, 
and not of the Jew 7 s only. Seventy disciples were 
selected and sent out with the widest commission to 
preach to all classes. Jesus could offer them no money 
for their journey, but they were ready to set out with- 
out it. Indeed, he expressly told them, as he had told 
the apostles, to take neither money nor a wallet for 
food, but to trust to the good-will of the people for 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



313 



shelter and food, which were to be their only wages. 
Their very appearance was also to show their poverty, 
for they were to wear only the cheap sandals of the 
poor, while they were to omit the tedious and empty 
salutations of passers-by, which caused great delay, 
and were mere idle forms. As Jews they had .hitherto 
refrained from entering the house of any one not of 
their nation, but now they were free to become guests 
of any one who would receive them. It was the first 
great lesson that the new faith was a religion for all 
mankind. 

(48) Bethany. Luke 10, 38-42. In these closing 
weeks of his life, our Lord found a home, from time 



Olives. He may have known them on former visits to 
Jerusalem, and perhaps they formed the household of 
Simon, the leper, whom he had healed on his first 
journey to these parts. Here lived two sisters — Mar- 
tha and Mary — who, with their brother Lazarus, wel- 
comed him always with a friendship that must have 
been delightful. Both sisters were worthy women ; 
but while Martha, the elder, more practical than Mary, 
busied herself with womanly diligence and interest in 
the humble affairs of the household, the other was 
eager to catch all she could from the lips of our Lord 
as she sat at his feet whenever she could. To one 
whose wants were so simple as those of our Lord, this 
did not cause any inconvenience ; but Martha, anxious 
to show all possible hospitality, thought the conduct of 



MARY AND 
MARTHA. 



to time, with a family at Bethany, 
on the east side of the Mount of 



314 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Mary very unkind, till Jesus quietly told her that her 
busy care, while lovingly owned, was not required to 
be so engrossing. 

(49) Jerusalem. John 9. The idea that every 
misfortune in life w r as a direct punishment for sin, 

the man committed either by the sufferer or 

born blind, by forefathers, was then univer- 
sal. On one occasion, a man born blind having 
passed, the question was raised whether he or his 
parents had brought this calamity upon him. Jesus, 
however, told them that suffering w r as not to be 
regarded as a punishment for particular sins in any- 
one, and that in this case, it had been so ordered that 
the goodness of God might be shown in the cure of 
the blind man. Stooping, therefore, and mixing some 
of the dust with the saliva, so as to make clay of it, 
he touched the man's eyes with the wet earth, an*d 
then sent him to wash in the pool of Siloam, under 
the east wall of the temple. Neither the clay nor the 
pool could restore eyesight, but obedience to the 
divine command had a mighty power, so that the 
blind man had no sooner washed than his eyes were 
perfectly restored. 

VII. Period of the Peraean Ministry. From the 
Feast of Dedication to the Anointing at Bethany. 

(50) Peraea. Dec, A. D. 29. Luke 13, 10-21. 
We are not told to what part east of the Jordan our 
Lord betook himself at this time, but some of his 
miracles while he was thus in hiding are related. One 
day as he was teaching in a synagogue on the Sab- 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



315 



bath, a woman who entered on her way to the part 
shut off for her sex, drew on her the notice of Christ, 
for she was bent double, perhaps 

WOMAN . 1 r 

heai/ed by rheumatism, which is very com- 

ON SABBATH. ^ ^ ^ ^ eighteen 

years she had not been able to straighten herself. 
But she was now to be freed from this long suffering. 
Laying his hands on her, and calling her to him, 
Christ quietly said, Woman thou art loosed from thy 
infirmity, and forthwith she stood erect, before all, 
thanking God for His wonderful goodness in curing 
her. 

(51) Bethany. Feb., A. D. 30. John 11, 1-46. 
His comparative quiet in the region of Peraea beyond 
raising of Jordan was soon disturbed, for a 

u^arus. message came to him in hot haste, 
from Bethany, that Lazarus, his friend, lay danger- 
ously ill. There could be no doubt of his affection for 
the sufferer or for his sisters; yet, instead of setting 
off at once to restore him, he astonished his disciples 
by remaining two days where he was, though it had 
taken a day for the messenger to reach him, and would 
require another day to get to Bethany. On the third 
day, however, he surprised them by proposing to 
return forthwith to the scene of danger. As he ap- 
proached the village, word was carried to the house 
that he had at last come. The two sisters had been 
sitting in a darkened room, veiled and unsandaled, 
amidst neighbors and mourning women, who were 
breaking the awful silence by screams and lamenta- 



3i6 



THE HOLY LAND. 



tions for the dead. Martha, on hearing of our Lord's 
arrival, at once rose and went off, in black and deeply 
veiled, to meet him. Had you been here, said she, 
my brother would not have died! Your brother will 
rise again, replied Christ. A few minutes more and 
Mary was at his feet in tears. Sighing as he went, 
our Lord passed on to the grave, which was a small 
cave, either natural or hollowed out, in the soft lime- 
stone of Mount Olivet. Take away the stone, said 
Christ to those standing by. Presently the voice of 
Christ was heard in prayer amidst the silence that had 
fallen on all. Then, there rose the command, so strange 
when thus spoken into the ear of death, Lazarus come 
forth! It was enough. Life came back at once to 
the wasted frame, and it stirred in its grave clothes 
which bound it from head to foot, striving to move 
towards the door of the tomb. Loose him, said Jesus, 
and let him go. No wonder that many present 
believed from that moment. 

(52) Ephraim. Mar., A. D. 30. John 11, 47-54. 
All, however, were not convinced. Not a few were 



rying off to Jerusalem, they told his enemies, the 
chief priests and pharisees, what he had done, and 
they, fearing the additional influence he would gain by 
such a miracle, resolved, if possible, to get up some 
charge against him on the strength of which they 
might yet procure his death. Nothing was left, there- 



WITH- 

DRAWAI/ 

TO EPHRAIM. 



too embittered against our Lord for 
opposing the Rabbis to let the truth 
have its due effect upon them. Hur- 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



317 



fore, but that he should once more flee to a safer dis- 
trict, and this he found only on the other side of 
Jordan and in Samaria. 

(53) Samaria. Luke 17, 11-19. At one of the 
villages of Samaria, ten men, hideous with leprosy, 

hearing of his approach, rose from 
ten i/epers. ^ e spot where they had been sit- 
ting for alms, and standing at a distance, as the law 
required, their mouths covered, their faces and form 
disfigured by the terrible disease, cried out, Jesus, 
Master, have mercy on us. Without stopping, the 
All-merciful sent hope to them by the words, Go, 
show yourselves to a priest, a command which could 
only mean that before they reached Jerusalem to do 
so they would be healed. Obeying the cheering 
order, all forthwith set out, to find, as they went on, 
that the leprosy was gone. That they should have 
returned to thank their benefactor might have been 
expected, but only one of the ten had the good feel- 
ing to do so, and he was a Samaritan. Throwing 
himself at our Lord's feet, he poured out his thanks, 
and had the joy of being told to rise and go his 
way, his faith had made him whole. As a Samaritan 
he would need to show himself to a priest at Gerizim ; 
but his faith was none the less accepted, for the 
Samaritans worshiped God as fervently as the Jews, 
and he had shown that he had more true gratitude 
than the nine who were of Jewish blood. 

(54) Persea. Luke 18, 18-30. Starting south- 
wards on the return to Jerusalem, a young man, whose 



1 



3i8 



THE HOLY LAND. 



excellent character had already made him a ruler in the 
local synagogue, came running after him, and kneeled 
rich young before him, as was usual before a 

RUJVUR. venerated Rabbi. Teacher, said he, 

pray tell me what special good work I can do to 
inherit eternal life. The young man expected to hear 
some new injunctions securing great merit by faultless 
obedience. To his astonishment, instead of naming 
some ceremonies, as the Rabbis would have done, 
Jesus simply quoted some of the well-known command- 
ments. His upright and honest life brought no blush 
as he listened. Humbly he replied, I believe I can 
say that I have strictly kept all of these command- 
ments. In what respect am I still wanting? You lack 
one thing yet, said Jesus, if you really wish to be per- 
fect. If you really desire eternal life, go home, sell 
all that you have, and give what you get for it to the 
poor, and, instead of your earthly riches, you will have 
treasure in heaven. Then come to me, be my disciple, 
and bear your cross after me, as I bear mine. Rich 
as he was, the demand staggered and overwhelmed the 
young man. The world got the better in his heart, 
and he went away sorrowful. 

(55) Near Jericho. Luke 1 8, 35-43. A great mul- 
titude accompanied Jesus as he drew near to Jericho ; 
blind pilgrims, on foot or on asses or 

BARTiMiEus. camels, who had come from all the 
side passes and cross-roads of Peraea and Galilee. 
They met at this central point to go up to the passover 
at Jerusalem. Near the gate of the town one of the 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 319 

last miracles of our Lord was performed. Among the 
beggars who had gathered on the sides of the road at 
Jericho w r ere two blind men ; only one of them, how- 
ever, by name Bartimaeus, is particularly noticed in the 
account of the miracle. They had probably heard of 
the cure of the man who had been born blind, and, 
learning now from the crowd that the great wonder- 
worker was passing, they at once appealed to him as 
the son of David, the Messiah, to have mercy on them. 
The multitude tried in vain to silence them; they only 
cried the louder. At last Jesus came near, and, stand- 
ing still, commanded them to be brought. In a mo- 
ment their upper garment, which would have hindered 
them, was cast aside, and, leaping up, they stood 
before him. They believed he could open their eyes, 
and they prayed he would do so. A touch sufficed ; 
immediately their eyes received sight again, and they 
joined in the throng that followed their leader. 

(56) Jericho. Luke 19, 1-10. The position of 
Jericho, in the center of a very rich district, with a trade 
between the two sides of the Jordan, 
made it the home of a large force of 
tax collectors or publicans, under a local chief officer, 
named Zacchaeus. This man was especially disliked 
and despised, for, though a Jew, he had grown rich by 
his office, and was, in the eyes of his fellow-townsmen, 
not only an extortioner, but, by his serving the Romans, 
a traitor to his race, and to their invisible king, Jeho- 
vah. His personal character seems to have been bad, 
for he owned to Jesus that he had, at least in some 



320 



THE HOLY LAND. 



cases, wrung money from his fellow-townsmen by 
swearing falsely against them before the magistrates. 
In his curiosity to see Jesus he had taken his station in 
one of the evergreen sycamores which grew along the 
wayside. Imagine his astonishment as the great 
Teacher, passing the tree, looked up, and, addressing 
him by name, told him to make haste and come down, 
as he intended to be his guest that night, for, though 
all others shunned him, he was chosen in loving pity 
by Jesus as his host. The word was enough. In an 
instant he was in the road, and pressingly welcomed 
Christ to come to his house. This day is salvation 
come to this house, said Jesus, for' this man, sinner 
though he be, is, nevertheless, a son of Abraham, and 
now shows himself humbled and penitent. 

(57) Bethany. Saturday, Apr. i, A. D. 30. John 
11, 55 to 12, 11. While murder was plotting in the 
anointing by halls of the priests, peace reigned in 
mary. the pleasant home in Bethany. The 

house of Simon, once a leper, but cured by Jesus ; 
now the abode of Martha, perhaps his widow, perhaps 
his daughter ; of Mary, her sister, and of Lazarus, so 
strangely brought back from the unseen world — the 
one man raised from the dead of whose second earthly 
life we know anything — this home was a scene of ten- 
der respect and of loving homage to Jesus. To do 
him honor the family had invited guests to meet him 
at supper, and Lazarus reclined with him on the table 
couch. It was common to anoint the hands of Rabbis 
at social parties with fragrant oil ; but now Mary out- 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



321 



did all former honors paid to him. The costliest 
anointing oil of antiquity was the pure spikenard. Of 
this Mary had bought a bottle containing about twelve 
ounces weight, and now, coming behind the guests as 
they reclined, she opened the seal, and poured some of 
the perfume, first on the head and then on the feet of 
Jesus, drying them with the hair of her head. As the 
fragrant odors filled the room voices were heard mut- 
tering that expense so lavish for such an object was 
wrong. Why do you blame her and trouble her, said 
Jesus to the company ; let her alone. You have the 
poor with you always. Mary, as if she knew I was 
soon to die, has chosen the strongest way she could of 
showing how much she loved me. 
VIII. Period of the Passion. 

(58) Jerusalem. Sunday, Apr. 2, A. D. 30. Luke 
19, 29-44. This glimpse of sweet rest over — the last 
triumphal ne would enjoy before the awful end; 
entry. the first act in the great tragedy, 

his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, fitly led the way 
to the great consummation. As yet he had made no pub- 
lic claims to be the Messiah; until this was done, there 
still wanted a formal proclamation of his kingdom. 
He determined, therefore, to enter Jerusalem publicly 
in such a way as would openly announce his claim to 
be the Christ. On the early morning of Sunday, 
Jesus and the twelve left their hospitable shelter at 
Bethany, and passed out toward Bethphage. Jesus 
sent two disciples thither, telling them that, immedi- 
ately on entering, they would find a she-ass tied, and 
21 



322 



THE HOLY LAND. 



a colt standing by. Loose them and bring them to 
me, said he; and if any one make a remark against it, 
say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them 
at once. He had rightly directed them. The ass and 
its colt were found, and the permission of their owner 
— no doubt a disciple — for taking them for his use, 
was obtained at once. Meanwhile it had reached 
Jerusalem that he was about to enter, and great num- 
bers of the pilgrims from Galilee, proud of him as a 
prophet from their own district, set out to meet and 
escort him, cutting fronds as they came from the palm 
trees that lined the path, to do him honor. Sweep- 
ing round to the south of the Mount of Olives, the 
road approached Jerusalem by the bridge over the 
Kedron, to reach which it had to pass Gethsemane. 
The myriads of pilgrims on the slopes of Olivet, and 
the crowd at the eastern wall of the temple, thus saw 
the procession winding in slow advance till it reached 
the gate, now St. Stephen's, through which Jesus 
passes into the new town, riding up the valley between 
it and Mount Moriah, through narrow streets hung 
with flags and banners for the feast, and crowded on 
the raised sides, and on every roof, and at every win- 
dow with eager faces. Who is this — passed from lip 
to lip. It is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth in Gali- 
lee, shouted back the crowd of northern pilgrims and 
disciples, proud to honor their prophet before the 
proud sons of Jerusalem. 

(59) Jerusalem. Monday. Luke 19, 45, 46. 
After returning to Bethany for rest on Sunday night, 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



323 



Monday morning saw Jesus once more on his way to the 
temple, his Father's house. Two years before he 
had purified its outer courts from 

SECOND r 

ci,bansing the abuses which love of gain had 
of tbmpi/E. brought in under the pretence of 
serving the requirements of worship. Since then 
they had been restored in all their hatefulness. The 
lowing of oxen, the bleating of sheep, the cries of the 
money-changers, and the noisy market chattering of 
buyers and sellers of doves, filled the air with sounds 
of the outside world, which had no right in these 
sacred bounds. The scene roused the same deep 
indignation in Jesus as when he formerly saw it, and 
the same zeal again dismayed opposition. His com- 
mand sufficed to clear the spacious court of its motley 
crowd; the sellers of doves, at his order, bore off their 
cages; the exchangers gathered up their coins, and 
while he made them remove their benches and count- 
ers, he overturned the empty booths of the others. 
Nor would he suffer laden porters and others to shorten 
their journeys by crossing the temple spaces, as if they 
were public streets; they might carry them round by 
what way they chose, but must not make a thorough- 
fare of the sacred courts. Jehovah has written, my 
house is the house of prayer for all nations; but ye 
have made it a den of thievish traders. 

(60) Jerusalem. Tuesday. Luke 21, 1-4. The 
next day, after the excitement of preaching in the 
temple, Jesus sat down to rest over against the 
treasury, where the continuous stream of persons 



324 



THE HOLY LAND. 



casting in their money attracted his notice. Among 
the rest came a poor widow, with two lepta, one-fifth of 
widows our cent, each the smallest of copper 

mites. coins. She could not have cast -in 

less, for one lepton was not received as an offering. 
The sight touched the heart of Jesus; believe me, 
said he to those around him, this poor woman has 
cast in more than any of them, for they have only 
given of their abundance, but she in her need — for she 
has less than enough — has thrown all she had for her 
day's living. 

(61) Tuesday. Apr. 4, A. D. 30. John 12, 20-36. 
Some Greeks, then at Jerusalem for the feast, had heard 
grebks much of Jesus; perhaps had seen him 

seek jesus. an( j listened to his discourses, and 
were anxious to know him. Too modest to come direct, 
they applied to Philip, the only apostle bearing a 
Greek name. Philip forthwith mentioned the circum- 
stances to Andrew, and the two having communicated 
it to Jesus, it filled his heart with much-needed joy, to 
welcome men who must have seemed to him an earnest 
of his future triumphs among the great heathen nations. 
He went out, therefore, to the court of the heathen, 
where they were standing, and cheerfully joined them. 
The meeting brought to his mind with fresh force, the 
nearness of his death, through which salvation was to 
be brought to the heathen world at large, and his 
emotion broke forth in words full of sublimity. The 
hour has come, said he, when the son of man shall 
enter into his glory by death. For it must be that I 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. %2 $ 

die, that my work may bear its due fruit, as the grain 
must fall into the ground and perish, that it may 
bring forth the harvest. 

(62) Jerusalem. John 22, 1-6. To Judas, the 
only southern Jew of the twelve, the announcement 

bargain °f tne approaching death of Christ 

of judas. was a source of great disappoint- 
ment. Satan suggested to him, however, that if 
Jesus must fall into the hands of his enemies, he, 
Judas, might as well get some money profit out of 
what was unavoidable. He would go to the chief 
priests and see what could be done. He made his 
way to the temple. I come to betray Jesus of Naza- 
reth, said he. So they bargained with him, offering 
him only thirty shekels, the price of a slave. 

(63) Jerusalem. Luke 7, 14-20. We are not 
told how Jesus spent Wednesday. He apparently 

stayed in privacy, awaiting the com- 
mg day. On Thursday morning, 
the disciples, taking it for granted that he would cele- 
brate the feast with them, came to him early to 
receive instructions. He told Peter and John to go 
and prepare the Passover, that he and the twelve 
might eat it together. When all was ready they par- 
took of the meal, and after supper, Jesus, girding him- 
self with a towel, like a slave, poured water into a 
basin and washed the feet of his disciples. No greater 
proof could be shown of his love than such an instance 
of his humility. He was about to leave them, and, 
as yet, they had no rite, however simple, to form a 



326 



THE HOLY LAND. 



center round which they might gather, Jesus therefore 
instituted the Supper. He took one of the loaves 
before him, gave thanks, broke it, and handed it to 
the apostles, with the words, Take eat, this is my 
body, which is given for you; this do in remembrance 
of me. Then taking the cup, he gave thanks to God 
once more, and passed it with the words, Drink ye all 
of it, for this cup is the New Covenant. Such was 
the new rite. To those around him there could be no 
doubt of its meaning and nature. They saw in it an 
abiding memorial of their Lord; a vivid sign of their 
dependence on the merits of his death; the need of an 
intimate communion with him as the bread of life; 
and the bond of the new brotherhood he had estab- 
lished. It was henceforth to distinguish the assem- 
blies of his followers from the world at large, and, 
excepting baptism, was the only outward form estab- 
lished in the church by their Master. ^ 

(64) Mount of Olives. Thursday. Luke 22, 39- 
46. Supper over, they passed, silent and sad, down 
the steep side of the Kedron, and, 
crossing by the bridge, were on the 
road which leads over the Mount of Olives to Bethany. 
An olive orchard lay near, known by the name of 
Gethsemane, or the Oil-press. When the soul is 
overwhelmed it seeks to be alone, and yet not too far 
from human sympathy and help. Accompanied by 
Peter, James and John, he passed out of the hearing 
of the rest, and as he prayed, the great pent-up sor- 
row burst forth. It seemed as if even heaven were as 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



327 



far from him as the sympathy of earth. The sacred 
writers labor to describe the agony that overwhelmed 
him. They tell us that he first kneeled, then fell on 
his face on the earth, and prayed with strong crying 
and tears (Heb. 5, 7), till his sweat became, as it 
were, great drops of blood, falling down to the ground. 
After prostrating himself thus three times, a calm, 
child-like submission to his Father came. He had 
triumphed. The tempter had fled, and, in his place, 
as after the victory of the wilderness, there appeared 
an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. 

(65) Mount of Olives. Thursday, midnight. Luke 
22, 47-53. Meanwhile Judas had been busy. Ex- 

betrayai, posed and dismissed by the Master 
and arrest. f rom the company of the apostles, 
he had only been the more set to carry out his miser- 
able purpose. Hastening to the authorities he reported 
that the favorable moment seemed to have come. 
Jesus had once more ventured into Jerusalem and it 
would be easy to take him in Gethsemane. A band 
was detailed from the troops in Antonia, and these, 
under an officer, with the rabble with lanterns and 
torches, followed Judas as guide. He had arranged 
that he should mark Jesus to them by going up to him 
and giving him the customary kiss of a disciple to his 
teacher. Jesus allowed them to lead him away, while 
the disciples forsook him and fled. 

(66) Jerusalem. Friday, 1 to 5 a. m. Luke 22, 
54-71. On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus was first led to 
the mansion of Annas, the head of the reigning priestly 



328 



THE HOLY LAND. 



family, perhaps because, as the oldest high priest, he 
was still acknowledged as the rightful, if not the legal 
triai, before dignitary. What passed before An- 

jews. nas or what hints he sent to Caiaphas, 

are not known. It may be that he simply passed on 
the prisoner to the legal high priest at once, hastening 
to follow him, and secure his condemnation. Annas 
hastily summoned an irregular, illegal, self-constituted 
court, whose members had already approved the cold- 
blooded counsel of Caiaphas, to put the prisoner to 
death, guilty or innocent. This court condemned 
Jesus for blasphemy. 

(67) Jerusalem. 6 a. m. Friday. Luke 23, 1-25. 
The decision of the Jewish authorities having been duly 
triai, before si S ned and sealed, and Jesus once 

fixate. more securely bound, he was led off 

to the official residence of Pilate, on Mount Zion. Now, 
for the first time, Jesus entered the gates of a king's 
palace, entered it as a prisoner. Pilate, having taken 
his seat, began the proceedings by asking Caiaphas and 
his colleagues what accusation they had against the 
prisoner. The Gospels give only a brief outline of the 
trial. Pilate expected some denial or disproofs from 
Jesus ; but Jesus remained silent. When Pilate heard 
that Jesus was a Galilean he ordered him to be trans- 
ferred to Herod ; but Herod was no less at a loss than 
Pilate what to do. Nothing remained but to send him 
back to Pilate and let him finish what he had begun. 
Pilate attempted many schemes for the release of 
Jesus, but, failing in all of them, he delivered Jesus 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



over to a military officer, with the order to see him 
crucified. 

(68) Jerusalem. 9 a. m., Friday. Luke 23, 26-49. 
Death by the cross was the most dreaded and shame- 

thb cruci- punishment of antiquity. While 

fixion. preparing to start on the sad pro- 

cession Jesus was again exposed in the guard-room to 
the insults of the soldiery. For the route along the 
way of sorrow see chapter XVII, page 268. A spot 
just outside the city wall near the Damascus gate was 
the place of the crucifixion. During the preparation 
of the cross Jesus was offered a stupifying drink, but 
he would take nothing to cloud his faculties, even 
though it might mitigate his pain. The cross was 
raised and let down into a hole dug for it, while Jesus 
prayed, Father forgive them for they know not what 
they do. He was fastened to the cross, racked with 
extremest pain, and covered with every indignity 
offered to the greatest criminal; no sigh escaped his 
lips, no cry of agony, no bitter or faltering word. 
After hanging about three hours upon the cross, hav- 
ing spoken seven times, at last he gave a great cry, as 
of mortal agony; his head fell; he was dead. 

(69) Friday, 3 p. m. Luke 23, 50-56. Among 
the spectators of the crucifixion there had been one, 

whose position might have enabled 

THE BTJRIAI,. , ■ . . . ■• 

him to be 01 service to Jesus in his 
hour of need before the high priestly court, had he 
possessed the moral courage required. This was 
Joseph, a member of the ruling class, known by the 



330 



The holy land. 



name of his birthplace, Arimathea. Now that Christ 
was dead, Joseph, breaking through all weak reserve and 
caution, went into the city and waited on the governor 
in his palace, to ask as a favor, that the body of Jesus 
might be put at his disposal. He then took the body 
of Jesus to his own new-made tomb. Nichodemus, 
Mary of Magdala, Mary, the wife of Cleopas, and 
perhaps some others of the true-hearted women from 
Galilee, were the only followers of his bier. It was 
only a hurried burial, for the last rays of the sun were 
shining on the garden as the tomb was closed. 

(70) Jerusalem. Matt. 27, 62-66. Meanwhile 
the fears of the chief priests and their party had 
watch at already been awakened. A meeting 

sepulchre. h a( j b een h e ld immediately after the 
crucifixion, and the success of the scheme to crush 
Jesus had doubtless been the subject of hearty rejoic- 
ing. But they feared all was not over. It w T as 
remembered that Jesus had spoken darkly of rising 
from the dead on the third day, and his disciples, act- 
ing on this hint, might steal the body, and spread it 
abroad that he had risen, misleading the people more 
than ever. It was hence necessary that the grave 
should be watched for three days. A deputation was 
therefore appointed to wait on Pilate, representing 
their apprehensions. You have a guard, said he, with 
bluntness; go and make it as sure as you can. This 
they did; passing a strong cord across the stone, and 
securing its ends by clay, they sealed it, after not- 
ing that the soldiers were duly stationed so as to make 



The journeys of jesus. 



331 



approach without their knowledge impossible. And 
thus the Redeemer was left to sleep through the 
Sabbath. 

IX. Period of the Resurrection. 

(71) Jerusalem. Sunday. Luke 24, 1-12. It is 
the glory of woman that she refuses to forsake those 

restjrrec- s he loves, even when things are 
tion. darkest. The two Marys had left 

the grave only when the deep night compelled them, 
but even then they still had its dear one in their 
hearts. The Sabbath, which had begun just as the 
stone was rolled to the entrance, kept them from doing 
anything for him for twenty-four hours; but it was no 
sooner over on Saturday at sunset than, with Salome 
and Joanna, and some other women, they arranged to 
take additional spices at the earliest dawn, to com- 
plete the embalming of the body, begun by Nichode- 
mus, but left unfinished through the approach of the 
Sabbath. The true-hearted women had resolved to 
reach the grave by sunrise, which would be about a 
quarter before six in the morning; and so they slept 
outside the city gates, as these did not open till day- 
break at the earliest. How great must have been 
their astonishment when they found the stone rolled 
back, and the grave open, and Jesus risen from the 
dead. The news spread in the early morning to all 
the eleven that their master was alive and had been 
seen. 

(72) Emmaus. Sunday, Apr. 9. Luke 24, 
13-35. The disciples began to think of separating 



332 



the holy land. 



and returning to their homes; for without their master 
they were without a leader. Two of them deter- 
the discifi,es mined to go back to Emmaus, a 
of ismmatjs. village between seven and eight miles 
northwest of Jerusalem, among the hills. A stranger, 
going their way, overtook them and joined them. He 
listened to them attentively for a time, and then began 
to quote passage after passage from the scriptures to 
prove that the Messiah was to found a spiritual, not a 
mere earthly kingdom, by love and self-sacrifice, not 
by force. At supper, the unknown, taking the bread, 
offered the usual benediction, just as Jesus had done; 
bearing, voice and manner were his. It was he! 
Meanwhile, as they gazed in awestruck wonder and 
reverence, he vanished. 

(73) Jerusalem. Sunday evening. Luke 24, 36-43. 
The apostles with the others assembled to eat a simple 

appearance to evening meal together before part- 
discipi,es. j n g for the night. Suddenly through 
the closed door, a form appeared in their midst, which 
they at once recognized as that of Jesus. The sight 
terrified and alarmed them; they could not realize that 
it was Jesus himself, but fancied it was his spirit. 
And so Jesus, knowing how easily the idea might 
spread that his appearances were merely those of a 
spirit, asked them to let him share their meal. They 
had broiled fish, and he ate some of it. All doubt 
fled, it was indeed their risen Lord. 

(74) Jerusalem. John 20, 26-29. A whole week 
passed before the next manifestation was recorded. 



THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS. 



333 



On Sunday, known henceforth as the first day of 
the week, in contrast to the Jewish Sabbath, the seventh 
to disciples ^ay, an d as especially the Lord's day, 

and thomas. the eleven assembled as they had 
done on every day during the week. Thomas, who 
had not been present on the Sunday before, refused to 
believe that Jesus had risen, without complete proof. 
The doors had been carefully closed for fear of spies ; 
suddenly the words peace be with you were heard, and 
Jesus stood before them. Turning to the doubting 
one, he said, reach hither thy finger ; here are my 
pierced hands ; put thy hand into my side, and be not 
faithless, but believing. To see the hands and feet 
and side ; to receive such condescension; Thomas 
could only utter his one deepest thought — that he had 
before him his Lord and his God. 

(75) The Sea of Galilee. John 21, 1-24. Simon 
Peter, Thomas the Twin, Nathanael of Cana, John 
to seven anc * James, and two others whose 

disciples, names are not given, had quietly 
resumed their humble occupation of fishermen. They 
had been out on the lake all night, but had caught 
nothing, and were rowing to the land in the early 
dawn, when they saw on the shore a stranger, whom 
they could not recognize in the twilight as one they 
knew. If you cast your net once more on the right 
side of the ship you will find fish, said the stranger; 
they were only too glad to do so. But the net was 
overloaded, so that they could hardly draw it after 
them as they rowed to land. As this incident was 



334 



THE HOLY LAND. 



similar to a well-remembered miracle of their master, 
they recognized him at once. It is the Lord, whis- 
pered John to Peter. Two or three more appearances 
of the risen Christ are recorded ; to about 500 on the 
mountain side ; to James alone, and also to all the 
apostles. 

(76) Mount of Olives. May 19, A. D. 30. Luke 
24, 50, 51; Acts 1, 9-1 1. Jesus wished to leave his 
the disciples in such a way that they 

ascension. might know that he returned from 
earth to the Father. He therefore led them over 
the Mount of Olives towards Bethany, for a last 
interview. He had prepared them, as far as their 
dullness made it possible, for his leaving them, 
and had fitted them to receive the gift of the Spirit, 
which, within a few days, would illuminate their in- 
tellects and hearts. We know not with what last 
parting words he took final leave of them. All that is 
told us is, that he gave them his blessing with uplifted 
hands. The wonderful miracle which closed his 
earthly communion with his chosen ones is most fully 
narrated by Luke. When he had spoken these things 
while they were looking at him, he was taken up into 
heaven, and a cloud received him out of their sight. 
And as they were gazing earnestly into the heavens, 
behold two men stood by them, in white apparel, and 
said to them: Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing 
into the heavens? This same Jesus, who is even now 
taken from you into heaven, will come in the same 
way as ye have seen him go. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE. 

A picture of Palestine would be very imperfect 
without some outline of its Flora and Fauna. Here 
we have, gathered and focussed in one little corner, 
specimens from every part of the world. Every 
climate is represented. When we are in the north of 
Palestine we find ourselves in an Alpine region, and in 
the south we find a tropical outlier, in the Jordan val- 
ley. You can stand at Dan, and look up and see the 
snow-clad top of Hermon with its bears and arctic 
plants and birds. At your feet grows the Papyrus of 
Egypt. Look down the Jordan valley and you will 
see the region of tropical plants and animals, while 
in the middle of the country are found the pro- 
ducts of the temperate zone. Nowhere else in the 
world can you find brought so closely together the 
animals and vegetables of the three great zones. 

Look at that heavy, flying kingfisher. How did 
that bird get from Madras or Ceylon to the Jordan 
valley? How did the little sunbird ever get from trop- 
ical Africa? The only explanation is this. The gla- 
cial epoch has clearly come as far as Palestine, for the 
cedars of Lebanon stand on a moraine of debris of 
rocks and stone deposited at the mouth of an ancient 
glacier. Before the glacial period, in the warm ter- 
tiary period, the animals of warmer climates spread all 

335 



336 



THE HOLY LAND. 



over the whole connected belt of country from India to 
Africa. In the following cold glacial period the Jordan 
depression remained warm, and in the struggle for exist- 
ence, a few of the animals survived during that epoch. 
The present plant and animal life of the hills of Pal- 
estine is similar to that of the neighboring Mediter- 
ranean region. The Reem, mistranslated Unicorn,, 
spread all over Europe, and only disappeared about 
iooo B. C. with the increase of population. The 
antelopes are mentioned in Deuteronomy but not in 
Leviticus. Why? Because Leviticus was written 
just after leaving Egypt, and the Hebrews had not 
yet seen any antelopes. 

For the general distribution of plant life, let us 
begin at the north. Beneath those mighty crags of 
Lebanon, glowing beneath a sky of intensest blue, lies 
many an oasis of almost unequalled beauty and fruit- 
fulness. Nestling in these secure retreats, dwell 
druse and Maronite, a hardy and industrious race, 
rendering their mountain home an Eden restored. 
The slopes are terraced for grain and a variety of fruit 
trees; villages lie embosomed in ruddy orchards and 
groves of mulberry. Oranges, peaches, apricots, 
plums, cherries and almonds thrive at different eleva- 
tions. Here, as everywhere else in Palestine, the vine 
and the pomegranate yield their rich produce. In the 
warmer and more sheltered slopes the palm and the 
olive, the fig and the walnut find a congenial home; 
green oaks abound higher up the mountain side, and 
higher still the pine, cypress and juniper crown the 



THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE. 



337 



successive zones of vegetation with their sombre foli- 
age; while humbler plants like the wild rose, geranium 
and honeysuckle, impart a homelike aspect to the 
scene. Beside the many streams, willows and pop- 
lars, the crimson oleander, with a mass of lowlier 
vegetation flourish as in Bible days. 

In Galilee, besides the oak woods, a dense mass of 
mastic, hawthorn and spurge-laurel overspreads the 
hills. Thistles and thorny plants abound with flowers 
of every hue in the early springtime. In the plain of 
El Buttauf in Lower Galilee, grain, cotton and almost 
every species of vegetable grow luxuriantly. Nazareth 
has its palms and its cypresses, its fig trees and its 
gardens. Crossing the plain of Esdraelon, we pass 
into the fertile and well-watered district of Samaria. 
Rivulets run down the hill-slopes and murmur in the 
deep ravines; gardens surround the eity walls; fruits, 
nuts and every species of vegetable grow in abundance, 
and green foliage and sparkling streams refresh the 
eye; but the stony barren mountains contrast strongly 
with the green fields below. The tame, bare and des- 
olate aspect of so much of Judaea is mainly due to two 
causes: to the destruction of timber, and the neglect 
of the ancient terrace cultivation. Yet Bethlehem has 
its olive yards and vineyards as of old, and there are 
many large gardens near Jerusalem. 

The route southwards from Hebron passes over 
plains of arable land lying between hills clothed with 
evergreen-oak and arbutus, with pine trees on the 
eminences. But here, as elsewhere, the destruction 

22 



338 THE HOLY LAND. 

of trees tor charcoal-making goes on at an increasing 
rate. Low hills and rolling pasture land, adorned in 
early spring with countless flowers, meet the eye as 
we descend into the south country. Scarcely any 
trees are to be found here; springs are infrequent, but 
tribes of Bedouin nomads find abundant pasturage for 
their flocks in the territories of the adjacent Amale- 
kites. These natural terraces form the southern bor- 
der of Israel's inheritance. 

The Valley of the Jordan possesses a flora of its 
own. The vegetation of the upper part, above the Lake 
of Galilee, affords a strange mixture of northern and 
southern forms. The northern portion of Lake Huleh 
is covered by an immense tract of floating thickets of 
papyrus ; white and yellow water lilies adorn the 
banks. The river rushes through between rocks 
thick set with oleanders. As it emerges it spreads 
into a grassy delta, dotted with trees and bushes. 
Oleanders fringe the sandy beach at Gennesaret, and 
the grass is gay with flowers of every hue in their 
brief, bright springtime. On quitting the Sea of Gal- 
ilee, the stream presents three levels, or terraces, on 
either side of the river. The middle terrace is barren, 
but merely from neglect; the lower one, occasionally 
overflowed by the river, is a mere tangle of trees and 
cane. The celebrated palm grove, which gave to Jer- 
icho its ancient title, is said to have been eight miles 
in length by three miles broad. With the exception 
of a few specimens^growing near the houses of modern 



THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE. 



339 



Jericho, no representatives of the palm forest remain 
in the neighborhood. 

One other district claims a brief notice. The 
Maritime Plain and adjacent hills of the Shephelah 
enjoy a climate eminently favorable to vegetation. 
Warm and sheltered, the palm and tamarisk of the 
desert and the Arabah flourish abundantly, with the 
fig and terebinth, and of course the olive vine and 
pomegranate; oaks grow on the slopes, pines on the 
hill tops, and abundance of small shrubs and flowers 
beneath. In the early spring, the meadows are 
ablaze with flowers of every hue, but flower gardens, 
such as moderns delight in, were almost if not entirely 
unknown. 

The numerous words found in the Old Testament 
denoting incense, ointments and perfumes, indicate 
how frequently they entered into the ritual of Divine 
worship, and ceremonies of the state, and were used 
as articles of customary adornment, or of special 
honor or indulgence; they alleviated sickness and suf- 
fering, and were tokens of consideration for the living 
and the dead. The apothecary's art first named in 
the Book of Exodus (30, 25-35), in connection with 
the incense and holy anointing oil of the tabernacle, 
probably had its rise in the duties of religious wor- 
ship. Centuries before the reverent piety of the Jew- 
ish Rabbi embalmed the body of the crucified Saviour 
with a profusion of myrrh and aloes as the manner of 
the Jews was to bury, King Asa had been laid to rest 
in a couch filled with sweet odors and divers kinds of 



340 



THE HOLY LAND. 



spices prepared by the apothecary's art; while a very 
great burning of like perfumes was made for him (2 
Chron. 16, 14). As articles of luxury, ointment and 
perfumes belong chiefly to the period of Jewish mon- 
archy, and, of course, to later times, such as those of 
the New Testament. Before Solomon's reign the 
anointing of a person seems to have been limited to 
the application of olive oil. Thou shalt have olive 
trees, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil, 
is the language of Moses in the book of Deuteronomy 
(28, 40). So Ruth, David and others are spoken of. 
(Ruth 3, 3; 2 Sam. 12, 20; Ps. 23, 5). In Proverbs, 
and in succeeding writings of the Old Testament, allu- 
sions to the use, and still oftener to the abuse, of per- 
fumes and ointments are not infrequent. (Ps. 133, 
2 ; Prov. 27, 9; Eccl. 7, 1 ; Song 1, 3 ; 3, 6 ; 4, 10 ; 
I s - $7> 91 Amos 6, 6). In the New Testament these 
precious compounds appear among the gifts bestowed 
upon the Saviour by grateful affection, and finally in 
the book of Revelation as part of the merchandise of 
the mystic Babylon. (Luke 7, 37; Matt. 26, 7; Rev. 
18, 13). 

Centuries of misrule and neglect have combined 
with natural agencies to make desolate this once 
favored land. The winter rains have swept the thin 
soil from the hillsides, the sword of the conqueror and 
the ax of the peasant have demolished both forest and 
fruit trees; many a spring has thus run dry, and many 
a stream now feeds only a pestilential marsh; the soil 
mourneth and languisheth, and the ancient prediction 



THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE. 



341 



is fulfilled by the operation of natural but unerring 
law. Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down; Sharon 
is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake 
their fruits. (Isa. 33, 9). 

(8)* (Heb. Algumin). 1 Kings 10, 11-12. 2 Chron. 
2, 8; 9, 11. These verses from the Old Testament 
comprise all that is known concern- 
ing the Algum or Almug tree. The 
tree is of the pod-bearing order, and inhabits the 
Coromandel coast and Ceylon, where it grows to the 
size of a walnut tree. The wood is heavy, of a 
black color externally, but red inside. In the east 
it is employed in the manufacture of idols, and for 
musical instruments. In Europe it is chiefly used 
for the purposes of the dyer and color maker. 
Solomon's artificers appear to have fashioned the 
Algum wood into columns, or more probably stairs or 
balustrades for the temple and palace. 

(18) (Heb. Shaked). Jer. 1, 11. The Hebrew 
name of this beautiful tree is derived from a word 
which signifies to make haste; it 
blooms early in Palestine, in the 
month of January. Almond blossoms formed the 
pattern of the bowls of the golden candlestick 
(Ex. 25, 33). Aaron's rod was from this tree (Num. 17, 
8). The beautiful symbol of old age in Eccl. 12, 5, is 
doubtless based on the snowy whiteness of its aspect 
when viewed from a distance. 

(56) (Gk. anathon). Ye pay tithe of mint and 

*See Rassweiler's Chart of Plants and Animals. 



342 



THE HOLY LAND. 



anise. (Matt. 23, 23). This herb has but a limited 

connection with the sacred writings, 
anise. , t r • i • i 

the sole reference to it being the 

Saviour's words, above quoted. The anise of the 

New Testament is not the plant from which anise seed 

is derived, but that known as dill. The pharisees 

made a point of tithing their dill — a practice enjoined 

in the Talmud, but in their excess of ceremonial zeal 

they did the same with mint and rue, concerning 

which no such command appears to have been issued. 

(27) (Heb. ahalim ; Gk. aloe). Myrrh and aloes, 

with all the chief spices (Song 4, 14). This tree 

reaches a height of more than a hun- 
Ai,cms. . 1 . . - 

area leet ana is said to yield its fra- 
grance when decay has commenced. Aloes are referred 
to four times in the Old Testament and once in the 
New. Balaam compares the tents of Israel to " lign 
aloes " by the river Tigris or Euphrates. Here the 
allusion may be to some aromatic shrub indigenous to 
Babylonia, just as myrrh and myrtle were sometimes 
denoted by the same word. • In Psalms 45, 8; Song 4, 
14, and Prov. 7, 17, aloes are associated with myrrh 
as agreeable and attractive perfumes, while in the New 
Testament they appear but once, and then in connec- 
tion with the burial of the Saviour .by Joseph and 
Nicodemus. 

(Joel 1 , 12). We learn from the Bible that the apple 
was noted for its beauty, its grateful shade, and that 
• its fruit was sweet and reviving (Song 2, 3-5 ; 7, 
8; 8, 5). In Prov. 25, 11, apples of gold are likened 



THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE. 



343 



to a word fitly spoken. The apple of the Old Testa- 
ment is probably the apricot. The apple of Sodom 
appi/e of * s ^ e Solamum Sodomaeum, a fruit 

sodom. of a bright yellow, but very bitter, 

and one that soon withers to a puff-ball. 

(26) (Heb. tseri). Their camels bearing spicery 
and balm (Gen. 37, 25). This far-famed product of 
Eastern Palestine grew also in the 

BAI/M. . 

region round about Jericho, of which 
it was the most costly and valued product. The secre- 
tion was obtained by making an incision in the plant 
with a sharp stone. It was the general belief that the 
original root from which these trees had sprung was 
the gift of the queen of Sheba to Solomon. But it 
seems that, even in patriarchal times, balm was 
exported from Gilead to Egypt. Jacob deemed it an 
acceptable gift to the prince (Gen. 43, rr). In Eze- 
kiel's day (ch. 27, 17) the Israelites took this product 
of their land into the markets of Tyre. The prophet 
Jeremiah mentions balm three times, twice locating it 
in Gilead. Is there no balm in Gilead ? (Jer. 8, 22 ; 
46, 11 ; 51, 8). The balsam tree, however, like the 
date palm, has long since disappeared from Jericho 
and Gilead. 

(61) (Heb. seorah, Gk. krith). Ruth 1, 22. This 
familiar long-haired grain, for such its Hebrew name 
implies, as contrasted with wheat, 
has a long and varied history both 
sacred and classical; but we are chiefly concerned 
with its relation to Scripture lands and peoples. The 



THE HOLY LAND. 



barley harvest, both in Egypt and Palestine, as we see 
from Ruth 2, 23, precedes that of wheat, and the two 
extend through several weeks. On the Plain of Philis- 
tia, the granary of ancient Canaan, as the Shunamite 
well knew (2 Kings 8, 1-2), the whole harvesting 
lasts from April to June. In primitive times barley 
bread w r as a general article of diet; but as the nation 
prospered it became more specially the food of the 
poor (Judg. 7, 13; Ruth 3, 15; 2 Sam. 17, 28). The 
Egyptians prepared a sort of beer called zythus or 
zythum from this grain; thus anticipating the common 
drink of western nations. That the nutritive value of 
this grain was known to the ancients is evidenced by 
the fact that polenta, or barley porridge was given to 
the public gladiators to strengthen them for their con- 
tests. Both barley water and decoction of barley are 
recognized in the modern pharmacopoeia. 

(14) (Heb. ezrach). (Ps. 37, 35). Although the 
Bay Laurel is found in the Holy Land, on the Carmel 
range, on Tabor, and on the hills 

BAY. 

of Gilead east of Jordan, it seems 
tolerably certain that David's simile has been cor- 
rectly interpreted by the Revised version by the 
words a " green tree in its native soil." The Hebrew 
word means simply " Native born. " If the Psalmist 
had designed to mention any particular tree, he would 
probably have chosen the stately cedar, and not the 
comparatively humble though fragrant evergreen. 

(46) (Heb. pol). (Ez. 4, 9). In 2 Sam. 17, 27-29, 
beans are specified for the first time in scripture. The 



THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE. 



345 



second and only other reference is Ezekiel's prophecy, 
where he is directed to make bread of several kinds 

of grain, and of beans and lentiles. 

In modern Palestine, beans are sown " 
in November, and ripen in the time of wheat harvest, 
while in Egypt they are still earlier in coming 
to perfection. They are cut down with scythes, 
crushed with a rude machine, and so prepared for the 
food of camels, goats and oxen. Or they are tri- 
turated so as to remove the skins, and then sent to 
the markets. 

(12) (Heb. teashshur). (Isaiah 60, 13). Though 
not among the giants of the forest, the familiar box 
tree is by no means devoid of exter- 

BOX. 

nal grace. The wood of the box is 
fine #nd durable, and its employment in modern wood- 
engraving is too well known to need description. 
Ezek. 27, 6. Isaiah 41, 19. 

(49) (Heb. agmon). Ex. 2, 3. The rushes are 
distinguished by their fine though conspicuous flowers. 

More than twenty species of rushes 

BULRUSH. . 

grow m Palestine. A lowly grass, 
with drooping plume, is evidently intended in Is. 58, 5; 
Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush? 

(Heb. kopher). As a cluster of camphire in the 
vineyards of Engedi (Song 1, 14). Camphire was 

esteemed from the earliest times on 

CAMPHIRE). 

account of its fragrance, and the 
coloring properties of its leaves. The shrub is known 
to the Arabs as the henna plant. Houses are per- 



346 



THE HOLY LAND. 



fumed with it, and its blossoms are presented to 
guests as a marked compliment; women use it as a 
personal ornament. In India the blossoms are offered 
to the Buddhist deities. The henna plant has been 
applied to another purpose through the east, namely, 
as a dye for the hands, feet and nails. The leaves 
are dried and pounded, anti made into paste, which, 
when applied to the skin, produces an orange color or 
reddish tint, which is much esteemed. 

(20) (Heb. kiddah). Cassia and 

CASSIA. 

calamus were in thy market. Ez. 
27, 19. Cassia was a kind of cinnamon. 

(21) (Heb. erez). (Ps. 104, 16). The Cedar of 
Lebanon belongs to the order of cone-bearing trees, 
in which it is associated with pines, 

CEDAR. n 1 . 

firs and spruces. It is a wide- 
spreading evergreen, fifty to eighty feet high, with 
many large horizontal branches, which, when the 
tree stands singly, often cover an area greater in 
diameter than its height. Cones are five inches long, 
full of resin, which often exudes from between the 
scales. The wood is not of a superior quality; hence 
also the cedar used so much in the building (beams of 
cedars) may have included other varieties of pine. 
The wood of the cedar is of a reddish white, light and 
spongy, easily worked, but very apt to shrink and 
warp, and by no means durable. A small grove of 
cedars crowns like a diadem the brow of Mount Leba- 
non. The Arabs entertain a traditional veneration 
for these trees. The number diminishes in every 



THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE. 



347 



succeeding age. Travelers formerly counted thirty or 
forty; more recently seventeen, then only a dozen. 
It is in the great architectural achievement of Solo- 
mon that the cedar comes into special prominence. 
The chief wood work of the first temple and of the 
royal palaces (i Chron. 14, 1), was of this material. 
One of the palaces was named the house of the forest 
of Lebanon. (1 Kings 6, 7). The preference shown 
by the monarch for this wood led to its becoming as 
common in the Hebrew capital during his reign, as 
the inferior timber of the sycamore had been in pre- 
vious times. (1 Kings 10, 27; 2 Chron. 9, 27; Song 
1, 17). The latter kings of Judah had similar dwell- 
ings (Jer. 22, 14). And the same is implied of the 
Assyrian monarchs by the prophet Zephaniah (2, 14) 
in his denunciation of Nineveh. The cedar illustrates 
the majesty strength and glory of Christ (Song 5, 15 
Ez. 17, 22); Christ, a plant of renown (Ez. 34, 29) 
firmly rooted, it endures from age to age (Heb. 13, 8) 
also the beauty and glory of Israel (Num. 24, 6 
Hosea 1, 6); also saints, in the character of their 
growth (Ps. 90, 12); powerful nations (Ez. 31, 3; 
Amos 2, 9); arrogant rulers (Is, 2, 13; 10, 33). 

(9) (Heb. Armon). (Ezek. 31, 8). As the chest- 
nut is not a native of Palestine, it is thought that the 
oriental plane-tree is meant in Gen. 

CHESTNUT. \ 

30, 37. It grows wild on the banks 
of streams in the Lebanon district, and is cultivated 
wherever sufficient moisture can be found. It grows 
to a height of seventy feet; the bark is smooth and 



348 



THE HOLY LAND. 



whitish, and scales off annually in patches. It is one 
of the most agreeable and conspicuous objects in the 
Holy Land. 

(13) (Heb. kinnamon; Gk. kinnamomon). Cinna- 
mon and odors and ointments (Rev. 18, 13). Cinna- 
mon and cassia are enumerated in 

CINNAMON. v . ' 

Ex. 30, 23-24, among the principal 
spices in the directions given for compounding the 
anointing oil of the sanctuary. The garments of the 
royal bride in Psalms 45, 8, are said to smell of myrrh, 
aloes and cassia. Cinnamon is among the perfumes 
mentioned in the house of the strange woman (Prov. 
7, 7), and among the eoxtic plants growing in the 
garden enclosed described in the fervid imagery of the 
Song of Solomon. We may infer that many such 
foreign plants were introduced by Solomon, though 
they probably died out in the course of succeeding 
reigns. 

(3 2 > 33) (Heb. Gad). (Cummin, Heb. kammon). 
It was like coriander seed, white (Ex. 16, 31). Doth 
coriander ne not cas t abroad the fitches and 

and cummin. sca tter the cummin? (Is. 28, 25). 
These small herbs, though but incidentally mentioned 
in the Scripture, were of great importance in times 
anterior to the introduction of pepper and similar 
condiments more familiar to western tables. All had 
analogous use. 

(63) Corn. All countries came to Joseph to buy 
corn (Gen. 41, 57). The word corn, as used in Eng- 
land and in the Bible, refers to any farinaceous grain. 



THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE. 



349 



(58) (Heb. kishuim). (Num. 11, 5). Most refresh- 
ing to the inhabitants of the warmer 

CUCUMBERS. . c , . . . . 

regions 01 the globe are the iruits 
yielded by the gourd family of plants. 

(23) (Heb. tirzah). (Is. 44, 14). The cypress is an 
evergreen with wood compact, fragrant and heavy, 
that seldom rots; it was used by the 
ancients in making idols. The 
gopher wood mentioned in Gen. 6, 14 is supposed to 
be cypress. The word gopher occurs nowhere in 
Scripture except in this passage and is therefore 
wisely left untranslated. A very ancient tradition 
asserts that the ark was of cypress. The cypress is 
found in the regions watered by the Tigris and Eu- 
phrates. Cypress was employed by the heathen in 
the manufacture of idols. 

(25) (Heb. tamar). Song 7, 7. The generic name 
— phoenix — is given to palms because when the old 
, palm dies, three or four young ones 

DATEPAIVM. . . ^ 

often spring from the root. The 
palm is a tall upright tree with tufts of feathery leaves 
four to eight feet long, growing from the top of the 
trunk without branches. It lives over 200 years and 
is most fruitful from the thirtieth to the eightieth 
year. The fruit consists of fifteen to twenty clusters 
of dates weighing fifteen to twenty pounds each. The 
leaves are woven into baskets, and are used for roof- 
ing. The sap if distilled forms arak. The Arabs say 
that the palm has 300 uses. The branches are em- 
blems of victory; a palm grove in the desert shows 



35o 



THE HOLY LAND. 



the traveler where the hidden springs lie. It used to 
be very abundant in Palestine. The palm is men- 
tioned in fifteen different books of the Old and New 
Testaments. Its lofty stature is referred to in Jer. 
10, 5; its verdure and fruitfulness, even to old age, in 
Psalms 92, 12-14. It was freely introduced into the 
carved work of Solomon's temple (1 Kings 6, 29). 
The entry of our Lord into Jerusalem was signalized 
by the strewing of palm leaves in his triumphal path 
(John 12, 13), and the Roman church annually com- 
memorates that event upon Palm Sunday. 

(2) (Heb. teenah). (Matt. 24, 32.) The fig tree 
grows in the Orient to the size of a large apple tree. 

The fruit is so abundant as to be 

FIG. ...... 

very cheap, giving rise to the saying: 
not worth a fig. It is the first tree mentioned by 
name in the Bible (Gen. 3, 7). The spies brought 
back figs (Num. 13, 23). These are enumerated in 
the promise of Canaan (Deut. 8, 8). In Jotham's 
parable of the trees, the olive, fig and vine were 
selected as representatives (Judg. 9, 8-13). Prophets 
foretell their destruction, and lament the consequent 
desolation (Jer. 5, 17 ; Joel 1, 7 -12) ; but in promises 
of pardon and restored prosperity the fig and other 
trees are to yield their strength (Joel 2, 22) ; every 
man is to sit under his own vine and fig tree (Micah 4, 
4 ; Zech. 3, 10). For disobedience the locust had 
gnawed the fig trees ; but with repentance and reforma- 
tion vegetable life was to be renewed (Joel 1,4; 2, 25 ; 
Amos 4, 9 ; Hagai 2, 17-19). Yet, amidst all vicissi- 



THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE. 



351 



tudes in external nature, he who has faith in God will 
rejoice in Him, though the fig tree shall not blossom, 
neither shall fruit be in the vines (Hab. 3, 17). In 
the vision of two baskets of figs, recorded by Jeremiah, 
the captives of Judah are typified by the better sample 
of the fruit (Jer. 24, 1-7) ; but the emblem is more 
especially used by our Lord, in whose teaching the 
barren fig tree points directly to the Jewish nation 
(Luke 13, 6 ; Mark 11, 13). The name of the village 
of Bethphage signifies House of Figs (Luke 19, 29). 
We find allusions to green or unripe figs, and to the 
first ripe figs of the early summer (Song 2, 1; Jer. 24, 
2), both of which were easily shaken from the tree 
(Nahum 3, 12 ; Rev. 6, 13). Figs were preserved by 
being pressed into cakes. In this form they were 
brought by Abigail to David and his followers, and also 
by the northern tribes to the festival at Hebron (1 Sam. 
25, 18 ; 1 Chron. 12, 40). The employment of figs 
as a mendicament is illustrated in a narrative of King 
Hezekiah's illness (2 Kings 20, 7). 

(22) (Heb. berosh). And David and all the house 
of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of 
instruments made of fir wood (1 Sam. 

FIR. 

6, 5). There is much difference of 
opinion respecting the tree intended ; the uses of the 
tree may guide us as to its nature. It was used for 
floors ( 1 Kings 6, 15); doors (1 Kings 5, 34); ceiling 
(2 Chron. 3, 5); rafters (Song 1, 17). The frequent 
mention of cedar and fir in the same passage (1 Kings 



352 



THE HOLY LAND. 



5, 8 ; Is. 1 6, 8) clearly indicates that different trees 
were intended. 

Fitches (Heb. ketsach) was quite similar to corian- 
der. 

(34) (Linen). (Heb. bad, Gk. linon). The flax 
and the barley were smitten (Ez. 9, 31). Like hemp, 
the value of flax has been two-fold 
in its fibre and its seed. Flax ap- 
pears to be among the earliest fabrics manufactured 
for human clothing. Long before the flax crops of 
Egypt were smitten by plague of hail, Joseph had 
been arrayed in the much-prized material, which was 
worked with such skill and delicacy that specimens 
exist showing 140 threads to the inch in the warp and 
about sixty-four in the woof. A fabric in all cases so 
light, smooth and cleanly, was especially considered 
to be the dress of those who were officially engaged in 
religious worship. Hence we are not surprised to find 
that the Jewish priests, like those of Egypt, were com- 
manded to wear linen garments (Ex. 28; Ez. 41, 17- 
19); or that the tabernacle curtains were embroidered 
upon the same material (Ex. 24, 1). In like manner 
Samuel and David are represented as girded with a 
linen ephod (1 Sam. 2, 18 ; 2 Sam. 6, 14). . Angelic 
beings seen by Ezekiel and Daniel (Ez. 9, 2; Dan. 
10, 5), appeared as if clothed in linen; and in the final 
visions of the Apocalypse, angels and glorified saints 
are adorned with the same emblematic garments of 
purity (Rev. 15, 6; 19, 8). If the Israelites had not 
brought with them the knowledge of flax, they would 



THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE. 



353 



have found it in Canaanitish looms, as we gather from 
the story of Rahab of Jericho (Josh. 2, 6). The excel- 
lence of the spinning and weaving of Jewish women 
is hinted at in Proverbs (31, 22-24), where the wise 
woman is described as making and selling linen girdles, 
and wearing robes made of the same material. Fine 
linen is also among the luxuries for which the Hebrew 
women of fashion are rebuked by the Prophet Isaiah 
(Is. 3, 23). The rich man in the parable was clothed 
in fine linen, and Joseph of Arimathsea bestowed this 
last honor upon the crucified Saviour before laying the 
body in his own tomb (Luke 16, 19; Mark 15, 46). 
Besides curtains and articles of dress, cord and sail 
cloth were manufactured of linen. It was also used 
for lamp-wicks. 

(31) (Heb. chelbenah). Take unto thee sweet 
spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum (Ex. 30, 
34). Galbanum is a waxy, brown- 
isn yellow exudation, obtained from 
more than one kind of umbelliferous plant, resem- 
bling fennel, either naturally or by incision. 

(52) (Heb. kikayon). And gathered thereof of 

wild gourds his lap full (2 Kings 4,39). The gourd is 

remarkable for its vegetative growth, 
GOURD. _ , . 1 . . , , : t . . 

and tor the rapidity with which it is 

attained. It was probably some plant of the gourd 
family which afforded the discouraged prophet Jonah ' 
a welcome shade and a salutary lesson. Much use- 
less controversy has been expended even from the 
days of Jerome and Augustine on the identification of 
23 



354 



THE HOLY LAND. 



this plant, whose growth, if the plain narrative be 
accepted, was miraculously accelerated for the 
prophet's benefit. 

(51) (Heb. arar). Jer. 17, 6. It seems evident 
that the reference is to the barren and desolate dis- 
tricts common in the neighborhood 

H^ATH 

of the Dead Sea, and the region 
farther south, rather than to the wilderness of Sinai; 
and to some bare and naked shrub, just able to exist 
in the uncongenial soil. 

(5) (Gk. kermatia). Luke 15, 16. The Carob is 
widely distributed and admired for 

HUSKS. 1 • • 1 t * 

its shining leaves. It is a pod-bear- 
ing tree with long brown beans which are ground up 
for cattle, but are also eaten by the poor. 

(29) (Heb. ezob, Gk. hussopos). Ye shall take a 
bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood (Ex. 12, 22). 

Hyssop appears first as a plant suf- 
ficiently common in Egypt to be 
used by all the Israelite families in the observance of 
the Passover; afterwards it is directed to be used in 
the ceremonial purification of leprosy and in the sacra- 
fice of a red heifer (Ex. 12, 22; Lev. 14, 4; Num. 
19, 6). It was deemed the type of a humble plant 
and grew in the crevices of the walls (1 Kings 4, 33). 
Whether it possessed cleansing properties of its own 
is not determined by Psalm 51, 7, as the reference 
may be to the passover. Its stem seems to have been 
large and strong enough to support a sponge filled 
with liquid (Matt. 27, 48; John 19, 29). 



THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE. 



355 



(24) Heb. rothem). (1 Kings 19, 5). In the south 

country, and in the great and terrible wilderness, in 

the warm districts surrounding the 
juniper. . 

Dead bea, and in the picturesque 

ravines which leave the hills east and west of the 
Jordan valley, grows one of the lovliest of Bible plants, 
a species of broom, or genista. Travelers have dwelt 
with delight upon the beauty of its pinkwhite blos- 
soms, clustered on the hillsides or dotting the open 
plains, and exhaling an odor as sweet as that of a 
flower garden. The dispirited prophet, in his flight 
from the furious Jezebel, rested and slept under a 
Juniper tree. So the modern Arabs are glad to avail 
themselves of such shelter. It grows to the height of 
from eight to ten feet. In Ps. 120, 4, coals of juniper 
are mentioned as of proverbial fierceness, and we are 
informed that the charcoal of the Juniper is so highly 
valued that the Bedouins destroy the shrub in large 
numbers in order to sell the produce for the Egyptian 
market. The patriarch Job (30, 4), speaks of outcasts 
being driven by the presence of a famine to cut up 
juniper roots for their food; a striking figure of speech 
since the roots of the desert broom are bitter and 
nauseous. 

(37) (Heb. chatsir). (Num. 11, 5). The some- 
what romantic history of these bulbous vegetables 
contrasts singularly with their homely 
associations, and not less with the 
cursory notice bestowed upon them in the sacred writ- 
ings. The Israelites, ever since their regretful thoughts 



356 



THE HOLY LAND. 



strayed away from the sand waste around them to the 
garlic of Egypt, have remained fast friends to that 
vegetable, both before and since the destruction of 
Jerusalem, whether at home in the Holy Land, or in 
the dispersion. There is a tradition in the east that 
when Satan stepped out of the Garden of Eden after 
the fall of man onions sprang up from the spot where 
he planted his right foot. 

(30) (Heb. adashim). (2 Sam. 23, 2). The lentile 
is the smallest of the cultivated leguminous plants. 

It is a slight-growing annual, with 
compound leaves and tendrils, and 
bears purple flowers, which develop into pods, each 
containing two or three convex beans. It grows to a 
height of six or eight inches, and in the warm plain, 
of Egypt, ripens by the end of March. In Palestine, 
however, the harvest of this useful bean does not fall 
until June or July, when the plants are either reaped 
with a scythe or pulled by hand, and then carried to 
the threshing floor. When cooking, it diffuses far 
and wide an odor extremely grateful to an hungry 
man. It was for this that the faint and famished 
.Esau cried out at the first sight of his brother's tempt- 
ing meal: Feed me, I pray thee, with the red, — 
this red — into which he might dip the soft bread, 
spoon fashion, as now his descendants are accustomed 
to do. So Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of 
lentiles (Gen. 25, 29). Lentiles were among the 
ingredients of which the prophet Ezekiel was directed 



THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE. 



357 



to make bread as a sign of the coming siege of Jeru- 
salem (Ez. 4, 9). 

(43) (Heb. shoshan; Gk. krinon). Consider the 
lilies, how they grow (Matt. 6, 26). It is not known 
just what flower is meant in the 
scripture by the term lily, as there 
are apparently two species of lilies native to the coun- 
try, the white lily and the scarlet martagon, both of 
which are rare. 

(55) (Ex. 25, 31). The flowers which formed part 

of the Jewish tabernacle, and which both the Sep- 

tuagint version and Tosephus call 
LOTUS. * 1 1 

lilies, were merely conventional 

forms, probably the Egyptian sacred lotus. So, also, 
we may conclude was the lily work of Solomon's tem- 
ple (1 Kings 7, 19). 

(40) (Heb. dudaim). The mandrakes give a smell 
(Song. 7, 13). The slight reference to this plant in 
the Old Testament, in the above 

MANDRAKE. 

passage, and m Gen. 30, 14-16, 
where it is said to have been gathered by Jacob's eld- 
est son in the fields in the days of wheat harvest, calls 
for a brief notice. The mandrake is a near relative 
of the nightshades, the apple of Sodom, and the 
potato plant. It grows low like lettuce, to which its 
leaves bear a strong resemblance, except that they 
have a dark green color. The flowers are purple, and 
the root is for the most part parted. The fruit, when 
ripe in the beginning of May, is of the size and color 
of a small apple, exceedingly ruddy, and of a most 



358 



THE HOLY LAND. 



agreeable odor. It is freely eaten, and is generally 
valued by the inhabitants as exhilarating their spirits. 

(54) (Heb. dochan). (Ez. 4, 9). Millet, one of the 
cultivated grasses, became an article of human diet at 
a very remote period in the east and 
. west. In the memorable retreat 01 
the ten-thousand the Greeks marched through the 
country of the millet-eaters ; and the Spartans were 
called by a similar name. Several species grow in 
Palestine ; they are stout annual grasses, with broad 
leaves, and bear dense clusters of small seeds. 

(10) (Heb. baea). (2 Sam. 5, 24). Although the 
black and white mulberry trees are extensively culti- 
vated in Palestine at the present day, 

MTJI/BERRY. . J 

when the production of silk affords 
so important a means of sustenance to the inhabitants 
of the Lebanon district, the mulberry does not seem to 
be mentioned in the Old or New Testament. In the 
English version, mulberry tree is given as the equiva- 
lent of the Hebrew Baka, in the story of one of David's 
victories over the Philistines (2 Sam. 5, 23) ; and in 
Ps. 84, 6, as a proper name — Valley of Baca. It is 
derived from a word signifying to weep. 

(45) (Gk. sinapi). The kingdom of Heaven is like 
to a grain of mustard seed (Matt. 13, 3). This famil- 
iar plant, though as common in Pal- 

MUSTARD. . . 

estine as in our own country, is men- 
tioned only in the New Testament, in three or four 
passages, all occurring in our Saviour's discourses. In 
Matt. 13, 31, and in Mark 4, 30, it is made the sub- 



THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE. 



359 



ject of one of the parables of the Kingdom. In two 
other passages (Matt. 17, 20, and Luke 17, 6) the seed 
is again referred to in the inspiring words — if ye have 
faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this 
mountain, remove hence to yonder place, and it shall 
remove. This plant grows on the rich plain of Accho 
as tall as the horse and his rider. Plants of much 
lower stature would afford shelter to the birds of the 
air. 

(36) (Heb. mor, Gk. smurna). All thy garments 
smell of myrrh (Ps. 45, 8). This is the gum of a 
species of Balsamodendro. The tree 

MYRRH. § r 

is low and scrubby, the branches 
stiff, stout and spinous, the leaves tripple, and the 
fruit a small plum. Myrrh was anciently used as 
a perfume, a medicine, and a preservative agent in 
embalming the bodies of the dead, and had a 
reputation equal to that of any aromatic known. 
It was supposed to impart strength, as well as to 
lessen pain. It is mentioned once as an ingredient 
in the anointing oil for the tabernacle (Ex. 30, 23); 
it was offered to and refused by our Saviour when, 
bearing in his body our sins on the cross, he passed 
through his last agony; and it formed part of the 
spices in which his body was laid for the few hours 
preceding his glorious resurrection (Matt. 2, 11; Mark 
15, 23; John 19, 39). The other allusions to myrrh 
are exclusively in its character as an agreeable 
perfume, and occur chiefly in the Song of Solomon 
(Song. 5, 5-13; Esther 2, 12). In the offerings of 



360 



THE HOLY LAND. 



the Magi to the infant Redeemer there was unques- 
tionably a deep significance; and perhaps no interpre- 
tation is more probable than that of the early Chris- 
tians: Gold to the King of Israel, myrrh to the Man 
of Sorrows, incense to God manifest in the flesh. 

(19) (Heb. Hadaz). (Is. 55, 13). The myrtle has 
a height of from 10 to 20 feet according to climate, 

with dark and brilliant green foliage 
myrtle. , _ _ ° . * , 

and flower 01 snowy whiteness and 

pleasant odor. A fragrant water is distilled from the 
flowers. The bark and root is used in tanning Rus- 
sian and Turkish leather, and gives it the peculiar 
odor. It is still found in the hills around Jerusalem 
as in the olden time (Neh. 8, 15). The returned Jews 
under Nehemiah fetched branches of myrtle and other 
trees from the Mount of Olives for the construction of 
booths at the feast of tabernacles. In Isaiah's glow- 
ing predictions of future prosperity it is promised that 
the myrtle shall be planted in the wilderness, and 
again that the myrtle shall replace the brier and the 
pine tree the thorn. In the vision of Zachariah (1, 8), 
a grove of myrtle trees is represented in a dell appar- 
ently in the neighborhood of Jerusalem. And the 
myrtle appears once more in the name of Hadassah, 
the fair cousin of Mordecai, better known to us under 
her Persian title of Esther. 

(38) Heb. charul). As Gomorrah, even the breed- 
ing of nettles and saltpits (Zeph. 2, 9). In scripture, 
the nettle is associated with thorns and brambles, 
as an inhabitant of waste and neglected spots. The 



THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE. 



36I 



outcasts of Job's day were gathered together under 
nettles (Job 30, 7), and such weeds grow to a height 
of six feet in the warm Tordan Valley. 

NETTIE. . 

Solomon noticed the garden of the 
slothful; it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles 
had covered the face thereof (Prov. 24, 31). Four 
species of nettle occur in Palestine, including the 
small, the Roman, and the common stinging nettle. 

(4) (Heb. elah). Ye shall be as an oak whose leaf 
fadeth (Is. 1, 30); as an oak whose substance is in 

them when they cast their leaves (Is. 

OAK. 

6, 13). On the hills of Galilee and 
Carmel, Gilead and Bashan, the evergreen oak attains 
to magnificent proportions. The so-called Abraham's 
oak, near Hebron, is a splendid specimen, twenty-two 
feet in circumference. Its thick branches extend over 
an area ninety-three feet in diameter. Some sixty- 
six feet from the ground the tree forks into three great 
arms, which again divide as they ascend into innumer- 
able limbs. Isaiah (44, 14) speaks of the people tak- 
ing an oak to make a God. We also read (Hos. 4, 1 3) 
of burning incense upon hills and under oaks (Ez. 
6, 13). Solemn covenants were made under an oak 
(Josh. 24, 26). Sometimes persons were buried under 
the shade of an oak (Gen. 35, 8). The oaks of Bashan 
were famous for strength, beauty and utility (Is. 2, 12; 
Zech. 11, 2). Exekiel tellsus (27, 6) that the Tyre 
oars were made of this wood. 

(48) (Heb. ets shemen). (Is. 41, 19). This allusion 



362 



THE HOLY LAND. 



seems to point to the Oleaster, sometimes erroneously 
termed the wild olive. It yields an 
inferior kind of oil, used as a medi- 
cament, though unfit for food. The Oleaster is a small 
tree, common in all parts of Palestine. The wood is 
hard and fine grained, and hence would have been 
suited for the carving of images. 

(i) (Heb. zayith). His beauty shall be as the 
olive tree (Hos. 14, 6). No tree is more closely asso- 
ciated with the history and civiliza- 
tion of mankind. Its foliage is the 
earliest that is mentioned in the Bible, when the waters 
of the flood began to retire (Gen. 8, 11). Next we 
find it the most prominent tree in the earliest allegory 
(Judges 9, 8, 9). With David it is the emblem of pros- 
perity and the divine blessing (Ps. 52, 8) ; and he com- 
pares the children of a righteous man to the olive 
branches round about his table (Ps. 128, 3). So 
with the later prophets it is the symbol of beauty, 
luxuriance and strength ; and hence the symbol of 
religious privileges (Hosea 14, 6 ; Jer. 11, 16 ; Neh. 8, 
15). The Mount of Olives, with its Gethsemane, a 
press for olive-oil, witnessed the humiliation of David 
(2 Sam. 15, 30), and the most solemn scene in the life 
of Christ — the prophecy over Jerusalem (Luke 13, 34), 
the agony in the garden (Matt. 26, 36), and the ascen- 
sion to heaven (Luke 24, 50). Zechariah uses the 
mystic imagery of the olive-tree (4, 3, 11-14), as also 
John (in Rev. 11, 3-4). Paul (Rom. 11, 16-25) ex- 
plains the relative positions of the Jews and the Gen- 



THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE. 363 

tiles in the counsels of God, by the allegory of the wild 
olive. The olive grows freely almost anywhere on the 
shores of the Mediterranean, and it was peculiarly 
abundant in Palestine. The wild olive is a mere bush; 
cultivated, it attains an altitude of twenty to thirty 
feet; its trunk is very knotted and rugged, usually rot- 
ting with age, so that one may look right through it ; 
its branches are numerous and extended ; its lance- 
shaped leaves grow in couples, and have a pale, dusty 
green hue, very refreshing to the eye, especially when 
mingled with trees of a darker foliage (Jer n, 16; 
Hos. 14, 6). Its small white flowers are very abund- 
ant as compared with the fruit, and are often cast (Job 
l 5> 33)- Its fruit, a small roundish oval, is at first a 
yellowish white, but, when ripe, a rich purple black, 
with from two to six on a stalk, fatty to the taste (Jud. 
9, 9; Rom. 11, 17). It often attains the age of 1,000 
years. It is cultivated on a stony soil (Deut. 32, 13), 
and on the sides of the terraced hills (Matt. 21, 1). It 
is chiefly valued for its oil, which is used as an emol- 
lient (Ps. 33), and as a substitute for butter. The fail- 
ure of the olive crop was considered as a great calamity 
(Hab. 3, 17-18). The oil is extracted by pressing the 
fruit (Mic. 6, 15), or by treading it with the feet. The 
sites of many of the deserted towns of Judah bear wit- 
ness to the former abundance of the olive, where it 
now no longer exists, by the oil-presses with their gut- 
ters, troughs and cisterns, hewn out of the solid rock. 
Most of the passages in the Bible which refer to the 
olive might have been written in our day, so remark- 



364 



THE HOLY LAND. 



ably do the present customs accord with those of the 
ancient times. The fat valleys of Ephraim (Is. 28, 1) 
still prove how pleasant was the abode of that 
once favored tribe (Hos. 9, 13). The olive is said to 
grow best when at no great distance from the sea, and 
Solomon's chief plantations appear to have been near 
the coast plain, or on the Shephelah, between it and 
the Central Range (1 Chron. 27, 28). The fresh ver- 
dure and fruitfulness of the tree render it a fit emblem 
of the righteous man (Ps. 52, 8 ; Hos. 14, 6) ; and 
the young plants shooting up from the soil around the 
parent tree are graceful types of the children of his 
household (Ps. 128, 3). The patriarch Eliphaz says 
of the wicked, He shall cast off his flower as the 
olive (Job 15, 33). The tree has to be grafted in its 
wild state or the fruit is small and worthless. Paul 
uses this fact with striking force in showing the obli- 
gations of the Gentiles to the true Israel (Rom. ii, 
17). Of the various applications of olive oil, scrip- 
ture affords abundant examples. It formed the basis 
of most ointments and many perfumes; it was used 
publicly in official ceremonies. The name of Messiah 
or Christ originated with this custom. It was offered 
in sacrifices, and it supplied the sacred lamp of the 
tabernacle and the temple, as well as humbler means 
of illumination in private dwellings. It was food and 
medicine, and ministered alike to the enjoyment of the 
rich and the sustenance of the poor. A few refer- 
ences are given as illustration: Gen. 28, 18; Ex. 27, 



THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE. 



365 



20; Lev. 2, 5-7; 1 Sam. 10, 1; 1 Kings 19, 16; Matt. 
25, 3; Mark 6, 13. 

(9) The oriental plane tree is a native of Asia, and 
grows to a great height. It rises with a straight, 
smooth stem, with branches and 

PI,ANE TREE. 1 j 1 . . 

palmated leaves, sustaining several 
heads of small, close-sitting flowers. 

(11) (Heb. rimmon). Deut. 8, 8. The pome- 
granate is a thick, bushy shrub, rising to the height of 

twenty to thirty feet, with woolly 

POMEGRANATE. j j i r 1- 

stem and dark green foliage and 
crimson tulip-shaped flowers. It was used for its dye, 
and gave the name to the island of Rhodes. This 
beautiful shrub appears at an early date in the history 
of food, art and commerce. It was known as the 
favorite fruit in Egypt before the exodus, for the 
Israelites murmured because the Idumsean wilderness 
was no place of seed or of figs or of vines or of pome- 
granates (Num. 20, 5). The robe of the Jewish high 
priest had an embroidery of pomegranates of blue and 
of purple, and of scarlet round the hem thereof, and 
the same device appears again on the carved work of 
the pillars for the porch of the first temple (Ex. 28, 
33; 1 Kings 7, 18-20). The tree gives its name to 
several cities, as Rimmon, or Ain Rimmon, En Rim- 
mon, Spring of the Pomegranate, in the inheritance 
of Simeon on the south (Josh. 19, 7), and the rock 
Rimmon, to which the defeated Benjaminites fled 
(Judg. 20, 45). Saul encamped under a pomegranate 



366 



THE HOLY LAND. 



tree, which must have been near the rock of Rimmon 
(i Sam. 14, 2). 

(47) (Heb. chabatseleth). The desert shall rejoice 
and blossom as the rose (Is. 35, 1). Our rose was 
not known in Bible times. The rose 

rose. 

of the Old Testament, if a bulbous 
plant, as philologists contend, was represented by the 
narcissus and allied forms. If not bulbous, the poppy, 
or garden anemone, appears a highly probable claimant. 
(35) (Heb. chabat seleth). I am the rose of 
rose of Sharon (Song 2, 1). Scholars are 

Sharon. pretty w r ell agreed that the scarlet 
anemone is here intended, as it grows so plentifully 
upon the plains of Sharon. 

(42) (Gk. peganon). Ye tithe mint and rue and 
all manner of herbs (Luke 1 1, 42). Rue is mentioned 
in the Talmud among herbs which 
are tithe free. See under "Anise." 
It is a small shrub of from two to three feet in height, 
with much divided leaves and yellow flowers. 

(62) (Heb. kussemeth). (Is. 28, 25). Rye is essen- 
tially a northern species, and is now scarcely known in 
Palestine or Egypt. The Hebrew 

RY3$. 

word kussemeth is translated spelt 
in the revised version. Spelt is hard and rough- 
grained wheat, bearded, but much resembling the 
ordinary kind. It seems to have been cultivated in 
Palestine from long past time, and probably in Egypt 
also. 

(50) (Heb. karkom). Spikenard and saffron (Song 



THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE. 



367 



4, 14;. This now comparatively neglected plant was 
known in the East in remote ages 

SAFFRON. . ■, ' . 

and brought to Europe as an exotic 
of value. It is chiefly imported for its bright yellow 
dye, though occasionally employed also in medicine. 
The scent was valued as much as the dye. 

(6) (Heb. shittah). Shittim-wood. (Ex. 25, 10 ; 
Is. 41, 19.) Shittim-wood was /the chief material 
employed in the construction of the 

SHITTAH. 1 j , , ,1 

trame-work and turniture ot the 
tabernacle. Some tree is therefore denoted which 
grew in the desert, large enough to furnish boards of 
marked durability. These requirements are fully met 
by the Acacia of Sinai and the Jordan Valley. Mummy 
coffins of sycamore were clamped with acacia by the 
Egyptians. 

(41) (Heb. nerd; Gk. nardos). Then Mary took 
a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly (John 
12, 3). Probably this compound, 

SPIKENARD. . . 

the gift of the sister of the wealthy 
Lazarus of Bethany to her Teacher and Lord, was 
among the most valuable of the many costly unguents 
procured by ancient nations from the East. Judas 
valued the quantity thus expended at some fifty dol- 
lars. The nard from which this perfume was named 
is the product of an Indian plant, of the tribe which 
furnishes our valerian. It was prized as a medicine as 
well as a perfume. The only other references in 
Scripture are Song i, 12; 4, 13. 

(28) Stacte (Heb. nateph) is the Greek translation 



368 



THE HOLY LAND. 



of the Hebrew name which signifies a drop. A plant 
known as liquid amber orientale, 

STORAX. 1 9 

found in Cyprus and Anatolia, yields 
the officinal storax or stacte. This species grows in 
Palestine, but is considered not to be truly native there. 
Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte and onycha and 
galbanum (Ex. 30, 34). Onycha is generally supposed 
to be the covering of the mouth of a species of mollusk 
living in eastern seas, and so not a plant at all. The 
shells are pounded and mixed with aromatic substances. 

(65) Sweet Cane. (Heb. kaneh ; Gk. kalamos). 
Take of sweet calamus 250 shekels (Ex. 30, 23). The 
word calamus is the ordinary term 

SWEET CANE. . J 

for reed, or cane, but its specific 
character and application are indicated by the context. 
It is mentioned in Song 4, 14 ; Is. 43, 24 ; Jer. 6, 20 ; 
Ez. 17, 19. The calamus was aromatic, and the 
sweetness was of odor and not of taste. 

(3) (Gk. sukomoron). (1 Kings 10, 27). This tree 
is a true fig, and has no natural alliance with the 
sycamore of Europe and America, 

SYCAMORE- , . , - , 1 , • 

which belongs to an order that is not 
represented in Palestine. In flowers and foliage it 
closely resembles the common fig, but grows to a 
greater size, sometimes reaching a height of thirty or 
forty feet and a diameter of twenty. Solomon, in his 
years of wealth and prosperity, made cedar timber as 
common as sycamore. Like the statelier palm, the 
sycamore has almost disappeared from the city of Zac- 
cheus the publican. An aged specimen grows near the 



THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE. 



369 



Pool of Siloam at Jerusalem, and is said to mark the 
place of Isaiah's martyrdom. 

(64) (Gk. zizania). (Matt. 13, 25). This plant is 
the darnel, which was known to the ancients under 
the Greek name of (zizania) and the 

TAR^S. 

Latin one of lolium. Virgil speaks 
of unlucky darnel, and groups it with thistles, thorns 
and burs, among the enemies of the husbandman. 
Tares are used as an illustration of the nature and 
the effects of sin. The seeds are hard to kill, and 
spring up after many years, on the occasion of an 
unusually wet season. They often produce convul- 
sions if eaten. The roots strike so deep, and the 
color is so like that of the wheat, that it is difficult 
to make a separation before harvest. 

(53) (Heb. choach; Gk. tribolos). Do men gather 
grapes of thorns or figs of thistles (Matt. 7, 16) ? In 
the present neglected state of the 
once well-cultivated land of Israel, 
the thistles are as extensively represented as the vari- 
ous kinds of thorn and brier. They abound in all 
forms and colors in the inland plains and valleys, and 
overgrow the maritime plain of Sharon. Thistle-like 
plants appear to be expressly mentioned, each time in 
association with thorns. Thorns also and thistles, 
shall it bring forth to thee (Gen. 3, 18); the thorn and 
the thistle shall come up on their altars (Hos. 10, 8); 
that which beareth briers and thorns is rejected (Heb. 
6, 8); also in the passage above quoted from the ser- 
mon on the mount. 



37o 



THE HOLY LAND. 



(59) (Gk. thumon). The name means offering or 
incense, perhaps it was so named 
because of its sweet smell. It is 
used to give a relish to seasoning and soups. 

(7) (Heb. elah). (Is. 6, 13). A common tree in 
Palestine, the source of turpentine. A single tree 
yields about ten ounces. The Valley 
of Elah is the Terebinth Vale. 
(16) (Heb. gephen ; Gk. ampelos). (Psalm 80, 8). 
If the olive be the most abundant and characteristic 
„ _ tree of Palestine, the vine has been 

VINE. 

from ancient days the chief type of 
Israel and of Israel's inheritance. On coins and 
sculptured monuments, on temples and tombs, in the 
writings of prophets and psalmists, and in the teach- 
ings of Him who was emphatically the true vine, this 
lowly but fruitful shrub is interwoven with the thought 
and history of the chosen people. It is first men- 
tioned in connection with Ararat, its primitive habitat, 
where, as we are informed, the patriarch Noah planted 
a vineyard (Gen. 9, 20). We next read of the vine as 
a familiarly-known and cultivated plant in Egypt, as 
illustrated in the dream of Pharaoh's chief butler (Gen. 
40), and of the destruction of the Egyptian vineyards 
by hail storms (Ps. 78, 47). The Valley of Eshcol 
(Grape-cluster) yielded the huge samples of grapes car- 
ried to Moses by the spies, and received its name from 
the circumstance (Num. 32, 9). The Valley of Sorek, 
meaning vineyard in the Philistine Plain, was similarly 
named (Judg. 14, 5). No less than five of the para- 



THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE. 



371 



bles of the great teacher relate to vines and their cult- 
ure. Equally significant is it to note that about a 
dozen words are found in the Hebrew to denote this 
plant and its uses. 

(15) (Heb. hegoz). Song 6, 11. The walnut is 
too familiar an object to need description, either of its 
general appearance or of the nature 
and value of its fruit or timber. It 
is widely diffused from the Himalayas through China, 
Persia, Northern Palestine, and the southern and cen- 
tral parts of Europe. It would seem that Solomon 
planted these fine trees in his gardens near Jerusalem. 
At the present time the walnut is cultivated in all the 
glens and lower slopes of Lebanon and Hermon. It 
grows still in different spots in Galilee. 

(60) (Heb. chittah). (Ps. 81, 16). We meet with 
the mention of wheat in some of the earliest pages of 
sacred history. The eldest son of 
Jacob went out in the days of wheat 
harvest (Gen. 30, 14); but years before this Isaac had 
sown in the land of Gerar in the southwest, and reaped 
a hundred fold, and had included in the blessing 
bestowed on the disguised Jacob plenty of corn and 
wine (Gen. 26, 12; 27, 28). At a still earlier epoch, 
Egypt was renowned for her superabundant produce 
of grain — enough to support her own teeming popula- 
lation and to meet the wants of other countries, when 
their own supplies were inadequate (Gen. 12, 10). 
Less extensive, but not less valuable, were the wheat 
fields which overspread the Syrian plains ; from 



372 



THE HOLY LAND. 



Philistia on the western seaboard to the far-stretching 
land beyond the eastern hills, the Belka of the mod- 
ern Arabs; and from Ccele Syria beyond Lebanon to 
the south country, whither the patriarch more than 
once went down from the hills of Judah. The wheat 
grown in Palestine now, and probably in Bible days, 
does not differ from the species with which we are 
acquainted. 

(17) (Heb. ereb). (Is. 44, 4). Several species 
occur along the Jordan and the Arnon. From its boughs 
booths were constructed at the 
Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23, 40). 
In Ps. 137, 2, the weeping willow is meant, and it has 
received the botanical name of Babylonica. 

(Heb. laanah; Gk. apsinthos). Behold, I will 
feed them with wormwood (Jer. 23, 15). Wormwood 
and gall are, in scripture, the types 

WORMWOOD. . ii- r ,n- 

of bitterness, the bitterness of afflic- 
tion, remorse and punitive suffering. The Israelites 
were warned by Moses against secret idolatry, as a 
root that beareth gall and wormwood (Deut. 29, 18). 
The prophet (Jer. 9, 15) is commissioned to say: Be- 
hold I will feed them, even this people, with worm- 
wood; and this is repeated in a subsequent chapter. 
The same prophet bewails the fulfillment of these pre- 
dictions in the desolation which followed the capture 
of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. He hath filled me 
with bitterness, He hath made me drunken with worm- 
wood; mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood 
and the gall (Lam. 3, 15-19). 



CHAPTER XX. 



THE ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. 

In THE domain of the animal kingdom, we find in 
the Bible, in metaphor and parable, the mention of all 
the principal beasts known to the Israelites. We do 
not find, however, the names of any foreign or imag- 
inary animals. Thus their poetry has always the 
force and the precision of personal knowledge. Sci- 
entific observation and investigation have confirmed in 
the minutest particulars the fidelity of the descriptions 
of the Old Testament. I know of but two exceptions 
to this statement of scientific accuracy of Bible descrip- 
tions. On the one hand, the case of supernatural 
manifestations, as that of the serpent in Paradise, or 
the ass of Baalam; and, secondly, the plain language 
of parable or of fable, when wild animals are men- 
tioned by name; the lion, panther, bear, wolf or eagle. 
The finest descriptions are no doubt those of the Book 
of Job. 

(70) (Heb. akshub). Dan shall be a serpent by 
the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse's 
heels so that his rider shall fall back- 

ADDER. 

wards. (Gen. 49, 17). Horses, 
aware of its nature, are said to be in terror of 
the Viper Cerastes, or horned adder, and cannot 
be induced to proceed once they have detected 
the concealed weapon, for its bite is most deadly. 

373 



374 



THE HOLY LAND. 



It derives the name of horned from the presence 
of two protuberances, one over each eye. It is of 
grayish tint, about a foot long, and very active. 
In two passages in the Psalms, adder is the trans- 
lation of the Hebrew pethon, with asp appended 
in the margin. Everywhere when pethon occurs it is 
translated as asp (see asp). In another passage in the 
Psalms, adder's poison is under their lips (Ps. 140, 
3); the word is the rendering of the Hebrew akshub, 
which has been derived from a verb signifying to bend 
back on itself, and may refer to any of the poisonous 
serpents, as they all have the habit of bending back 
before striking. In Prov. 23, 32, the word adder is 
the rendering of the Hebrew psiphoni, which is given 
as cockatrice in other places where it occurs. (See 
cockatrice.) 

(72) (Heb. nemalah). Go to the ant, thou slug- 
gard, consider her ways, and be wise (Prov. 6, 6). 

The ant is mentioned in only one 

ANT. , . _ / t 

other place: Prov. 30, 25. Ants of 
different sorts are exceedingly abundant in all parts of 
Palestine, and in the desert regions, from the Dead 
Sea to Sinai; they are the reverse of dormant in 
winter. 

(19) (Heb. yachmur). (Deut. 14, 5). The Hebrew 
word appears to refer to the Antelope Biibalis, known 
to the Arabs as the wild ox, and liv- 
mg m small herds. No doubt it was 
much commoner formerly than at present. It is also 



« 



THE ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. 



375 



mentioned as being part of the daily supply for King 
Solomon's table (i Kings 4, 23). 

(28) Once in three years came the navy of Tarsh- 
ish, bringing gold and silver and ivory and apes and 
peacocks (2 Chron. 9, 21). Animals 
of this class have been at all times 
favorites in captivity. More than one kind of monkey, 
natives of the country around and south of the Red 
Sea, have been found figured upon Egyptian monu- 
ments. Their mummies have also been discovered, 
and there is no doubt that they were held in some 
degree sacred in ancient Egypt, as they are to this day 
among the Hindus. 

(16) The Argali is a species of wild sheep remark- 
able for its large horns. It inhabits the mountains of 
Central Asia. The bearded argali 

ARGAW.. . °, 

is the " Aoudad ; the name is also 
applied to the big-horned sheep of the Rocky Mount- 
ains. 

(Heb. pethen). Their wine is the poison of drag- 
ons and the cruel venom of asps (Deut. 32, 33) ; 

another allusion to its poisonous 
venom is found in Job 20, 14-16. 
It is the gall of asps within him. Isaiah (Is. 11, 8) 
alludes to the holes it resides in. Ps. 58, 4-5 alludes 
to its being one which serpent-charmers practice their 
skill upon. Further, it is spoken of as the deaf adder, 
which probably signifies that sometimes it was refract- 
ory. The asp of the ancients was no doubt the Egyp- 
tian cobra. It conceals itself in holes, in walls, ruins, 



376 



THE HOLY LAND. 



cellars, or under logs of wood. Its poison is most 
deadly and produces rapid paralysis of the nerves. 

9. (Heb. chamor). Issachar is a strong ass couch- 
ing down between two burdens. The ass is mentioned 
upwards of fifty times in the Bible, 
and from its having been selected 
as the animal on which it pleased our Saviour to enter 
Jerusalem, it carries with it in some respects a higher 
degree of interest than any other. Deborah and 
Barak addressed the mighty ones in Israel as ye that 
ride 07t white asses (Judges 5, 10). Amongst the Jews 
the most honorable persons rode on asses, and they 
were also used for all purposes of agriculture and of 
carrying burdens. Abraham went on his ass from 
Beorsheba to Mount Moriah (Gen. 22, 3). Several of 
the Judges and their families are spoken of as mounted 
on asses as a mark of distinction (Judg. 10, 4; 12, 14). 
Asses were accounted valuable possessions, and herds 
of them are numerated amongst the flocks of the patri- 
archs (Gen. 12, 16; 24, 35; 30, 43). 

(10) The wildness of the colt of the 
wild ass is proverbial in Job 11, 12. 
We read in Daniel (Dan. 5, 21) that Nebuchadnezzar 
dwelt with the wild ass. 

(4) (Heb. tachash). I clothed thee with broid- 
ered work and shod thee with badger skin. Badger 
is several times used in Scripture as 

BADGER. , . . _ _ t t 1 1 

the translation of the Hebrew word 
tachash. It is used always in connection with the 
term oroth, signifying skins, and is spoken of as being 



THE ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. 



377 



the material employed in covering the tabernacle and 
the vessels used in connection with it in the wilderness 
(Ex. 25, 5; 26, 14; Num. 4). In Ezekiel, 16, 10, 
it is mentioned as having been employed for making 
sandals for Jewish women. 

(39) (Heb. atalleph). In that day a man shall cast 
his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they 
made each one for himself to wor- 

BAT, 

ship, to the moles and to the bats 
(Is. 2, 20). The bat is spoken of as one of the fowls 
that may not be eaten in Deut. 14, 18, and Lev. 11, 
19. Being winged, it was no doubt included amongst 
fowls, although a mammal. The subsequent verse of 
Leviticus classes it amongst fowls that creep, going 
upon all fours. Seventeen species have been enumer- 
ated from Palestine, and no doubt more will be dis- 
covered. 

(3) (Heb. dob). And there came a lion and a bear 
and took a lamb out of the flock (1 Sam. 17, 34). 

From the frequent mention of the 
bear in Scripture, and its occurrence 
in Central Palestine being apparently nothing unusual, 
we learn that it must have been, like several other 
larger wild animals, common where it is now very rare 
or hardly known. David (1 Sam. 17, 24) tells us that 
he had to defend his flock against the bear as well as 
the lion ; and, further, in 2 Kings 2, 24, it is narrated 
that there came forth two she-bears out of the wood 
and tare forty and two of them, when the children of 
Bethel mocked at Elijah in the way between Jericho 



373 



THE HOLY LAND. 



and Bethel. A characteristic of the bear used as a 
simile several times in the Scriptures is its ferocity 
when deprived of its young (Prov. 17, 12; 2 Sam. 17, 
8; Hosea 13, 8). 

(72) (Heb. deborah). They compassed me about 
like bees (Ps. 118, 12). Bees are mentioned directly 
only four times in Scripture, but 
honey is spoken of as an abundant 
and favorite article of food amongst the people of Pal- 
estine. In two of the passages where bees are men- 
tioned they are spoken of as the natural enemy to man 
(Deut. I, 44; Judges 14, 8). When Samson rent the 
young lion and returned after a time, he found there 
was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass. There 
is nothing impossible in this occurrence. In the 
extreme dry heat of summer in this climate a very 
short time will suffice to dry up a carcass so completely 
that the cavity of the body might serve for such a pur- 
pose. 

(72) (Heb. chargol). Even these of them ye may 
eat; the beetle after his kind (Lev. 1 1, 
22). The revised version translates 

the Hebrew word chargol more correctly as cricket. 

Crickets are abundant in Palestine, both in number 

and variety. 

(23) (Heb. behemoth). Behold now behemoth, 
which I have made with thee; he eateth grass as an 
ox (Job 40, 1 5). This vigorous por- 
trait supplied us in Job is that 01 the 
river-horse, or hippopotamus. This word is translated 



THE ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. 



379 



in several passages in the Bible, either as domestic 
cattle or any large quadruped, as in Gen. 6, 7; Ex. 9, 
25; Lev. 11, 2; 1 Kings 4, 33. In other places it 
denotes horses, mules, or other "beasts of burden," 
as in 1 Kings 18, 5; Neh. 2, 12. But in the Book of 
Job the word is left untranslated, since it is evidently 
descriptive of a particular animal. 

(62) (Heb. kippod). I will also make it a posses- 
sion for the bittern and pools of water (Is. 14, 23). 

There are two species of bittern in 
Palestine and Egypt. The little 
bitterns are of rather rare occurrence in Egypt, but the 
larger species is plentiful. Both these species occur 
occasionally in England. 

(24) (Heb. chazir). The boar out of the wood doth 
waste it, and the wild beasts of the field doth devour 
. it (Psalms 80, 13). The wild boar 
is found in the woods of Mount 
Tabor and along the coverts by the Jordan from Gen- 
nesaret to the Dead Sea. At the present time the hog 
is never met with in the Holy Land. 

(13) (Heb. teo). Thy sons have fainted; they lie 
at the head of the streets as a wild bull in a net (Is. 

51, 20). The wild bull is men- 
tioned among the clean animals in 
Deut. 14, 5. The animal meant is probably, from 
the context, one of the antelope class. It was evi- 
dently a wild, untamable beast, and it is possible that 
the oryx may have been intended. It is said to be 
found in the Belka and in the Hauran. 



38o 



THE HOLY LAND. 



(21) (Heb. gamal). The same John had his rai- 
ment of camel's hair (Matt. 3, 4). 
Camels were used lor riding or as 
beasts of burden. The camel is not bitted, but guided 
by a string attached to a noose, fitted tightly around 
the nose. 

(29) (Heb. shathan). The conies are but a feeble 
folk, yet they make their houses in the rocks (Prov. 

30, 26). The coney was forbidden 

CONEY. u ' r J 

food to the Israelites; Because he 
cheweth the cud but divideth not the hoof, he is 
unclean (Lev. 11, 5; Deut. 14, 7). 

(59) (Heb. shalak). Ye shall have in abomination 
the little owl and the cormorant and the great owl 
(Deut. 14, 17). The term shalak 

CORMORANT. , • i i 

implies a plunging bird, perhaps the 
tern or the gannet. 

(64) (Heb. sus). Like a crane or a swallow so did 
I chatter (Is. 38, 14). The migration of the crane is 

alluded to by the prophet Jeremiah. 

It spends its winter in Northern 
Africa, and eastwards, in warm, temperate climates, as 
far as China. In Southern Palestine it is a winter 
resident, remaining on into the spring, but it is not 
known to nest there. The melodious mysterious note 
of the crane is very unaptly rendered " chatter." The 
crane is the largest bird now to be met with in Pales- 
tine. Its whole length is fully forty feet. 

(51) (Heb. shachaph). The cuckoo is amongst 



THE ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. 



381 



the birds forbidden for food (Lev. n, 16; Deut. 14, 15). 

The cuckoo is a common summer 
visitant in Palestine. It has a very 
wide range through all Europe and Asia. 

(18) (Heb. yachmur). The deer was a common 
animal of chase by the ancient Egyp- 
tians, and its venison was appar- 
ently much prized. 

(7) (Heb. keleb). Is thy servant a dog that he 
should do this thing? (2 Kings 8, 13.) Amongst the 
Tews dogs were declared unclean and 

DOG ' 111 A 1 

regarded with contempt. A living 
dog is better than a dead lion (Eccl. 9, 4). Nowhere 
in the Scripture is the dog mentioned with anything 
except disparagement or contempt. 

(41) (Heb. nesher). Wheresoever the carcass is 
there will the eagles be gathered together (Matt. 24, 
28). The term nesher is invariably 
translated eagle in the Bible. In 
some of the passages where it occurs it is obvious that 
the eagle of the Bible translators may be more specific- 
ally rendered vulture, or griffon vulture. In Micah 1, 
16, Make thee bald and poll thee for the children of 
thy delight ; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle, can 
only refer to the vulture, which is devoid of true feath- 
ers on the head and neck. Again, in Jer. 49, 16, and 
in Job 39, 27-30, the eagle" is referred to as holding 
the highest elevations of cliffs for its nesting-place, 
and this is especially a characteristic of the griffon 
vulture. 



382 



THE HOLY LAND. 



The strength of the eagle and its swiftness are 
noticed. He shall come as an eagle against the house 
of the Lord (Hosea 8, i); swifter than the eagles of 
the heaven (Lam. 4, 19); as swift as the eagle flieth 
(Deut. 28,, 49); and in the parable of the two eagles 
and the vine, in Ez. 17, the great eagle with great 
wings is symbolical of power. 

(42) And the swan and the pelican 

GIER-EAGI,!*. V ' , - /T on 

and the gier-eagle (Lev. 11, 18). 
This bird referred to as unclean was probably the 
Egyptian vulture. 

(11) The ivory house of Ahab (1 Kings 22, 39). 
The elephant is nowhere mentioned in the Bible, 
except perhaps indirectly in one of 
the names for ivory, which is often 
spoken of and was much in use amongst the wealthy. 
Ivory was used for inlaying and veneering beds (Amos 
6, 4), and other pieces of ornamental furniture, as in 
the boats of the Phoenicians (Ez. 27, 6). The first 
mention of ivory amongst the Jews is in David's time; 
all thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes, and cassia, 
out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made 
thee glad (Ps. 45, 8). Palaces here means some sort 
of boxes or chests, inlaid and veneered with ivory, in 
which,* amongst the rich, robes were stored with per- 
fumes. Ivory is only once mentioned in the New Tes- 
tament, in Rev. 18, 12. 

(68) Cast an hook and take up the fish that first 
cometh up (Matt. 17, 27). Although fishes are fre- 
quently spoken of in various parts of the Holy Scrip- 



THE ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. 



383 



ture, we find no reference anywhere to a distinction of 
species, even in places where something like a system- 
fishbs: thb a ^ c enumeration of animals is in- 
barbeu. tended. They are referred to as a 
group in various places, as in Gen. 9, 2; Ex. 20, 4; 
Deut. 4, 8; 1 Kings 4, 33. The closest approach to 
anything of a descriptive nature is in the division 
into those that are clean and unclean. These shall ye 
eat of all that is in the water; whatsoever hath fins 
and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, 
these shall ye eat (Lev. 1 1, 9-1 1). The Hebrews appear 
to have been utterly indifferent to specific characters 
among fish. This is the more strange when we recol- 
lect that Jerusalem was supplied with a fish market (2 
Chron. 31, 14; Neh. 3, 3; Zeph. 1, 10), and that 
there are numerous references to the catching of, fish 
in the Old Testament. At all times, too, the Jews 
attached great importance to the fishery of the Sea of 
Galilee. Jerusalem, however, appears to have derived 
its supplies from the Mediterranean (Ez. 47, 10). The 
Israelites must, moreover, have become familiar with 
fishing and all its branches when in Egypt (Num. 
11, 4), where the Nile and all its affluents, and the 
lakes and canals abound in fish, perhaps more than 
any waters in the world. In Matt. 12, 40, Jonah's fish 
is called a whale. In Jonah it is simply called a great 
fish. The word ketos in the New Testament means 
any sea-monster, and not necessarily that which we 
call a whale. As the whole episode is, however, to be 
regarded as supernatural, and the creature may have 



384 



THE HOLY LAND. 



been due to divine intervention, it is unnecessary here 
to speculate upon it. 

(Heb. parosh). After whom is the king of Israel 
come out ? after whom dost thou pursue ? after a dead 

dog, after a flea (i Sam. 24, 14) ? 

The flea is twice mentioned in the 
Bible, in both cases in the first book of Samuel. The 
abundance of fleas in the Holy Land is sometimes a 
very serious annoyance to travelers. They congregate 
especially about the camping-ground of Bedouins, and 
it is prudent to give such localities a wide berth when 
pitching tents. 

(Heb. arob). He sent divers sorts of flies among 
them which devoured them (Ps. 78, 45). The word fly 

is a translation of two Hebrew words. 

The first of these, arob, is a term 
used to designate the swarm of flies sent as a plague 
upon Pharaoh (Ex. 8, 21-31), and again, when refer- 
ring to this visitation in Ps. 78, 45 and Ps. 105, 31. 
Owing to the softness of the skin in the warm climate 
the house-fly of Egypt is soon able to effect a penetra- 
tion in the tender parts, such as the corner of the eyes, 
and the vulnerable point speedily becomes a throbbing 
mass of these abominable insects, who are thus ena- 
bled to suck the blood and produce festering sores. 
The other term meaning fly is zebub. It occurs in 
Eccl. 10, 1 ; dead flies cause the ointment of the 
apothecary to send forth a stinking savor ; and here 
the term is probably generically used for the swarms 
of flies, which speedily cause corruption and pollution 



THE AMIMALS OF THE BIBLE. 



385 



in anything capable of being attacked by them in the 
East. Against this pest the Phoenicians invoked the 
aid of their deity — Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, the 
lord of the fly. 

(56) (Heb. oph). Every winged fowl after his 
kind (Gen. 1, 21). There are several words so trans- 
lated in the Bible ; oph is the com- 
monest Hebrew term, and this is 
used collectively for all kinds of birds, as flying things. 
In the New Testament the word so translated is also 
of general signification, including birds of all sorts. 

(6) (Heb. shual). Go ye and tell that fox (Luke 13, 
31). There are two varieties of fox found in Pales- 
tine. In the southern and central 
parts the Egyptian fox is the com- 
mon species. It is very like our own fox, but a little 
smaller, and resembles it exactly in habits. In the 
northern parts of the country another variety, the 
tawny fox, is met with. It also closely resembles our 
fox, but is larger and of a lighter color, with a finer 
fur. In Ez. 13, 4, the false prophets are likened in 
their cunning to this animal. It is most probable 
that jackals were the animals turned loose by Samson 
in pairs (Judg. 15, 4) amongst the standing corn of the 
Philistines, with firebrands tied to their tails. It would 
be absolutely impossible that any such stratagem 
should succeed with foxes, who would inevitably pull 
in opposite directions, no matter how long a line might 
be given to the brand drawn by each couple. 

(71) (Heb. tsephar). Their land brought forth 



386 



THE HOLY LAND. 



frogs in abundance in the chambers of their kings 
(Ps. 105, 30). In Rev. 16, 13, un- 
clean spirits are spoken of as being 
in the likeness of frogs which came out of the mouth 
of the dragon. There is only one species of true 
frog in Bible lands; this is the edible frog; they fill 
the air at night with their deafening croaking, in those 
places where there is sufficient marshy ground, as at 
the end of the Dead Sea, near Beersheba. 

(Gk. konops). Ye blind guides which strain at a 
gnat and swallow a camel (Matt. 23, 24). The revised 
version reads: Strain out the gnat, 
the idea being that in hot countries 
small insects often get into the wine bottles and glasses, 
which would then require to be carefully strained. 
But this minuteness of detail, which detracts from 
the generality of the sense, in which the meta- 
phor is used, appears rather to vitiate the simple 
directness of the proverb. The obvious signification 
is generally the best. The idea is that of making an 
effort or straining at the act of swallowing small 
things, but none whatever over the more weighty and 
important considerations. It is needless to endeavor 
to determine any particular insect by this term. It is 
used to express the smallest familiar living thing in 
contrast with the largest. Insects such as we call 
gnats are very abundant in Palestine, especially in 
damp places, and it is not improbable that the com- 
monest of these, the mosquito, may have been sug- 
gested to the minds of the hearers. 



THE ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. 



387 



(25) (Heb. ez). And he made curtains of goat's 
hair for the tent over the tabernacle (Ex. 36, 14). 

Between goats and sheep there are 
GOAT * many intermediate species; goats are 

bearded and sheep are not, while in the former the horns 
are usually flattened from side to side, rough or annu- 
lated in front, and arched backwards. In sheep the 
horns are more cylindrical, with a lateral bend and 
downward curl and often twisted in cork-screw fashion. 
The goat was the animal selected on the day of solemn 
expiation to be set at liberty, as ' ' Azazel " or the 
scape-goat. The same shepherd who looks after the 
sheep also herds the goats, and they mingle in their 
pursuit of food. At night, or when being driven, they 
keep apart in separate droves. The skin of the goat 
is used in making bottles that are in use everywhere 
for holding wine or water. They can be patched and 
mended to any extent, when worn out. Many refer- 
ences to these bottles occur in Scripture (Josh. 9, 4 ; 
Ps. 119, 83). A pillow of goats' hair is spoken of in 
1 Sam. 19, 13. 

(15) The wild goat is spoken of in 

WII.D GOAT. j • t i_ 

1 bam. 24, 2, and m job 39, 1, 
and in Ps. 104, 18. 

(31) (Heb. arnebeth). And the hare, because he 
cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof, he is 
unclean unto you (Lev. 11, 6). There 
are several varieties of hare in Pales- 
tine, if we include the Sinaitic confines. It is an 
extraordinarily active and swift little creature, but 



388 



THE HOLY LAND. 



exceedingly stupid, in allowing itself to be shot by 
those most clumsy gunners, the Bedouins. The rabbit, 
which is a species of the hare tribe, is not found in 
Palestine. 

(46) (Heb. nets). Doth the hawk fly by thy wis- 
dom and stretch her wings toward the south (Job 39, 
26)? The hawk is mentioned as an 

HAWK 

abomination among fowls, and not 

to be eaten, in Lev. 11, 16. 

(63) (Heb. Anaphah). The heron is amongst the 
unclean birds mentioned in Lev. 11, 
19. Seven or eight species have 

been proposed, none of them being better than merely 

conjectural. 

(72) (Heb. tsirah). I will send hornets before 
thee, which shall drive out the Hivite (Ex. 23, 28). 

Hornets are abundant in Palestine, 
hornet. doubt they were so in former 

times. In Joshua 15, 3, is mentioned a city of Judah 
named Zoreah, of Place of the Hornets. Hornets 
are fond of flitting about wells and gardens, and some- 
times fight with one another with great determination. 

(8) (Heb. sus). The horse and his rider hath he 
thrown into the sea. (Ex. 15, 21). The horse is 
rarely spoken of in the Bible, except 

HORSES. . j* 1 f» r 1 

in regard to his usefulness in war. 
Solomon was the first to regularly establish a consid- 
erable cavalry force, and he imported them largely 
from Egyptian sources (1 Kings 10, 26; 2 Chron, 9, 
28). With reference to their equipment the bit and 



THE ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. 



389 



bridle are frequently mentioned (Ps. 32, 9; 2 Kings 
19, 28; Prov. 26, 3). The bridle was placed over the 
the nose of the animal (Is. 30, 28). In Zech. 14, 20, 
we read that there shall be upon the bells of the horses 
holiness unto the Lord. The Bible makes mention of 
horses in connection with traffic (Gen. 47, 17); horse 
fairs (Ez. 27, 14; Rev. 18, 13); training (Prov. 21, 
31); guiding by bit and bridle (Ps. 32, 9; Jas. 3, 3); 
whips (Prov. 26, 3); protection by armor (Jer. 46, 4); 
diseases (Zech. 12, 4); plague (Zech. 14, 15); murrain 
(Ex. 9, 3); serpents' bite (Gen. 49, 17); in battle (Jer. 
51, 21; Haggai 2, 22); used in cavalry (Ex. 14, 9; 1 
Sam. 13, 5); with chariots (Micah 1, 13; Zech. 6, 2); 
burdens (Ezra 2, 66; Neh. 7, 68); in hunting (Job 39, 
18); for riding by kings (Esther 6, 8—1 1 ; Ez. 23, 23); 
dedication to sun by idolaters (2 Kings 23, 11). 

(37) (Heb. tsabua). And another company turned 
to the way of the border that looketh to the valley of 
Zeboim (hyenas) toward the wilder- 

HYBNA. ^ ™ 

ness (1 Sam. 13, 18). The hyena is 
not actually mentioned anywhere in the Bible but the 
word tsabua, in Jer. 12, 9, translated speckled bird, prob- 
ably refers to the hyena. Some think that the hyena 
is also mentioned in Is. 13, 21. The hyena is now 
rare in Palestine, though in early days it was probably 
far more common. The hyena is not feared as a dan- 
gerous animal, for, although very powerful, it will 
rarely, unless wounded, or brought to bay, attack 
men, or indeed any healthy animal. 

{38) (Heb. shual). Jackals feed upon carrion; 



390 



THE HOLY LAND. 



they are no doubt intended in Ps. 63, 10. Aiso in 
Judg. 15, 4, it is most probable 
that jackals were the animals turned 
loose by Samson amongst the standing corn of the 
Philistines with firebrands tied to their tails; since 
they usually go in droves, while foxes run singly. 

(30) (Arab, yarbu). The jerboa is any small 
jumping rodent of the genus dipus. 

JERBOA. -\ U 1 t- A 

Ihe jerboas have very long hmd 
legs and a long tail. 

(45) (Heb. ayyah). The kite, after his kind, is 
accounted unclean in Lev. 11, 14. There are two 
common species of kite in Palestine 
— the red kite and the black kite. 
The kite feeds on mice, reptiles and smaller birds. It 
is also very expert in capturing fish, darting into the 
water for them from a great height. In its flight it 
sweeps around in wide circles, screwing its way upwards 
till it becomes a mere speck. 

(50) (Heb. dukiphath). (Unclean). In all proba- 
bility the bird intended is the hoopoe, a beautiful bird, 

well known in the south of Europe, 
lapwing. T , 
but leading a very unclean lite. It 

has a tall crest, its plumage is boldly barred with 
white, and its movements are rather quaint and gro- 
tesque than dignified. It is about the size of a thrush. 
In consequence of its odd manner of strutting and 
bowing and of elevating and depressing its crest, its 
strange cry and affected fashion of walking, its boldly 
marked appearance, and, above all, its familiarity with 



THE ANIMALS OF THE BIBL£. 



391 



man, the hoopoe has attracted to itself much popular 
superstition. The Arabs call it the doctor, believing 
it to possess marvelous medicinal qualities, and they 
use its head in all charms and incantations. 

(2) (Heb. namer). Can the Ethiopian change his 
skin or the leopard his spots (Jer. 13, 23) ? The 
leopard is mentioned in Scripture in 

JEOPARD. , mi ^ , 

seven passages in the Old Testa- 
ment and one in the New. The leopard of Palestine 
is now very rare, but is still seen occasionally in Leb- 
anon (Song 4, 8). It must have been common in Bible 
times. It is described in the Bible as spotted (Jer. 13, 
23 ; Num. 32, 3); fierce and cruel (Jer. 5, 6) ; swift 
(Hab. 1, 8), and lying in wait for prey (Jer. 5, 6; 
Hosea 13, 7) ; the waters of Nimrah mean fountain 
of the lepers (Is. 15, 6; Jer. 48, 34). It illustrates 
the Macedonian empire (Dan. 7, 6) ; also Anti-Christ 
(Rev. 13, 2). 

(69) (Heb. leviathan). There go the ships ; there 
is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein 
(Ps. 104, 26). This word occurs 
five times in the Bible. In the 
remaining passages — Ps. 74, 14 ; Is. 27, 1 ; Job 41, 1 
— the leviathan is undoubtedly the crocodile. The 
crocodile was regarded as sacred by the Egyptians. 

(1) (Heb. aryeh). Behold the lion of the tribe of 
Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed (Rev. 5, 5). 

The lion is mentioned about 130 
times in scripture, more frequently 
than any other beast, excepting domesticated animals. 



392 



THE HOLY LAND. 



The lion is no longer an inhabitant of Palestine. Lions 
are stated to have lingered in Palestine till about the 
time of the Crusades. Its well-known characteristics 
are wonderful strength (Judg. 14, 8); activity (Deut. 
33, 22); courage (2 Sam. 17, 10); fearlessness of men 
(Is. 31, 4; Nah. 2, 11); ferociousness (Job 10, 16; 28, 
8); voraciousness (Ps. 17, 12); majesty (Prov. 30, 
29); lurks for prey (Ps. 10, 9); roars when hunting 
(Ps. 104, 21; Is. 31, 4); rends its prey (Deut. 33, 20; 
Ps. 7, 2); carries prey to den (Xah. 2, 12); conceals 
itself by day (Ps. 104, 22); often perishes for lack of 
food (Job 4, 11); inhabits forests (Jer. 5, 6); thickets 
(Jer. 4, 7); it inhabits mountains (Song 4, 8), and 
deserts (Is. 30, 6). The following are some of the 
Bible incidents concerning the lion: Attacks sheep- 
folds (1 Sam. 17, 34; Amos 3, 12; Micah 5, 8). At- 
tacks men (1 Kings 13, 24; 20, 36); very often crim- 
inals were cast to them (Dan. 6, 7, i5, 24) ; Samson 
slays one (Judg. 14, 5-6); David also (1 Sam. 17, 35); 
swarms of bees were found in a carcase (Judg. 14, 8); 
a disobedient prophet was slain by one (1 Kings 13, 
24); the lion illustrates Israel (Num. 24, 9); Judah 
(Gen. 49, 9); Gad (Deut. 33, 20); God perfecting His 
church (Is. 31, 4); God executing judgment (Is. 38, 
13; Lam. 3, 10; Hosea 5, 14; 13, 8); boldness of the 
saints (Prov. 28, 1); courage of brave men (2 Sam. I, 
23; 23, 20); of cruel enemies (Is. 5, 29; Jer. 49, 19; 
51, 38); of persecutors (Ps. 22, 13; 2 Tim. 4, 17); of 
imaginary fears of the slothful (Prov. 22, 13; 26, 13); 
of a king's wrath (Prov. 19, 12; 20, 2); there is one 



The Animals of the bible. 



393 



terrible lion that visits every land (i Pet. 5, 8); God, 
who delivered David, can alone deliver us from this 
cruel enemy (1 Sam. 17, 37); there is much of the old 
lion in the unrenewed heart, but divine grace can 
change the most savage nature (Is. 11, 7; 65, 25). 

(72) (Heb. arbeh). If I command locusts to devour 
the land (2 Chron. 7, 13). In Leviticus locusts are 
permitted as food, and it is well 

I,OCTJST. r 

known that they were and are still 
eaten in the east. In some places they are esteemed 
a great delicacy ; there are various ways of dressing 
them. Sometimes they are boiled; sometimes ground 
and pounded and made into cakes with flour ; some- 
times they are smoked or roasted or fried or stewed in 
butter. The description of the visitation of locusts is 
highly poetical in the prophet Joel (2, 2-7). Other 
Bible descriptions speak of their great numbers (Ex. 
10, 15 ; Judg. 6, 5 ; 7, 12 ; Jer. 46, 23 ; Joel 2, 10 ; 
Nah. 3, 15); their voracity (Ex. 10, 12-15; Deut. 
23, 38 ; Ps. 78, 46; 105, 34 ; Is. 33, 4; Joel 1, 4, 7, 
12; 2, 3). They are like horses (Rev. 9, 7) ; they 
have no leader (Prov. 30, 27). In this, unlike some 
creatures, as the bee, they seem to move under the 
guidance of one common instinct. They enter houses 
and destroy wood-work (Ex. 10,6). They are destroyed 
by the sea (Ex. 10, 19) ; do not fly in the night (Nah. 
3, 17) ; when dead they taint the air (Joel 2, 20) ; 
they are used as food (Lev. 11, 21 ; Matt. 3, 4; 
Mark 1, 6). 

Mole. (See Rat.) 



394 



THE HOLY LAND. 



(Heb. ash.) Your riches are corrupted and your 
garments are moth-eaten (J as. 5, 2). Almost every 
mention of the moth in Scripture has 
reference to its destructiveness, and 
there is, therefore, reason to suppose that the clothes 
moths are referred to (Job 4, 18, 19 ; Is. 50, 9). 

(34) (Heb. akbar). The mouse is mentioned in 
three distinct passages in the Bible. It is forbidden as 

food (Lev. 11, 29). In 1 Sam. 6, 

MOUSE. . j , 

mice and emerods were sent as a 
plague upon the Philistines to warn them to send back 
the ark to the Israelites. Again, in Is. 66, 17, the 
eating of the mouse is referred to with horror. There 
is no lack of mice in Palestine. 

(35) (Heb. pered). Mules are not mentioned in 
the Bible till the time of David, after the introduction 

of horses. After this they are com- 
monly spoken of and soon become 
the ordinary riding animal of persons of rank. In 2 
Sam. 13, 29, the word pered first occurs, and in 1 
Kings 1, 33, David orders that his son Solomon shall 
be brought down to Gihon upon the king's own mule. 
Thus the mule was the animal of state. Solomon 
probably imported his mules from Egypt, since there 
is an express injunction against the breeding of mules 
in Lev. 19, 19. On their return from Babylon the 
Israelites brought with them 245 mules (Ezra 2, 66). 
In Isaiah's time (Is. 66, 20) we read that mules were 
commonly employed for riding by persons of high posi- 
tion, and they are spoken of as a part of Ahab's royal 



The animals of the bible. 



395 



stud (i Kings 18, 5). A mule's burden of earth is 
spoken of in 2 Kings 5, 17. 

(49) (Heb. tachmas). This word occurs only in 
the list of birds forbidden for food 

NIGHT HAWK. T ^ . , . , £ 

(Lev. 11, 10). It is derived from a 
root signifying to scratch the face. It is probable that 
a kind of owl was meant. 

(44) (Heb. azniyyah). The osprey occurs only in 
the list of forbidden birds in Lev. 

OSPREY. „ . . 

11, 3, 13. lhis is not a common 
species in Palestine, and is chiefly found in the north. 
(40) (Heb. peres). This word signifies the breaker, 
and the Latin term ossifrage, em- 
ployed in Lev. 11, 15, which signi- 
fies bone-breakers, is a good rendering of the word. 

(61) (Heb. yaanah), meaning vociferation. The 
daughter of my people is become cruel, like ostriches 
in the wilderness (Lam. 4, 3). The 
cry of the ostrich is described as 
being a mournful kind of roar, like that of a lion, and 
also uttered at night. It is noted for the beauty of its 
plumes, and its reputed habit of laying its eggs in the 
sand to be hatched by the sun. Its stupidity is per- 
haps more fancied than real. The speed of the ostrich 
has been estimated at twenty-five miles an hour; its 
stride reaches twenty-five feet. 

(47) (Heb. bath-hayyanah, also yanshuph). The 
owl also and the raven, shall dwell 
in it (Is. 34, 11). The owl is known 
by the name BoometL amongst the Arabs, and is 



39^ 



THE HOLY LAND. 



a great favorite with them, being regarded as a lucky 
species, and one friendly to man. 

(12) (Heb. shor). In consequence of its great use 
in all farming operations, the ox was the most impor- 
tant animal in the domestic economy 
of the ancient Israelites. They were 
used for plowing (Deut. 22, 10; 1 Kings 19, 19); for 
threshing (Deut. 25, 4; Hosea 10, 11); also for 
draught purposes (Num. 7, 3); for food (Deut. 14, 
4); as beasts of burden (1 Chron. 12, 40); for sacri- 
fices (Gen. 15, 9); they were protected by a strict 
code of laws; thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he 
treadeth out the corn (Deut. 25, 4; Ex. 23, 12); Sol- 
omon offered a sacrifice of 220,000 oxen (1 Kings 8, 
63) at the dedication of the temple; its management 
needed great care (Prov. 27, 23); under herdsmen 
(Gen. 13, 7; 1 Sam. 21, 7); who used a goad (Judges 
3, 31); fed them on the hills (Is. 7, 25); in valleys (1 
Chron. 27, 29; Is. 65, 10); in stalls (Hab. 3, 17); we 
are told of their value to the patriarchs (Gen. 13, 2-5; 
26, 14; Job 1, 3); to Israel in Egypt (Gen. 50, 8; Ex. 
10, 9; 12, 32); to the Jews (Num. 32, 4; Ps. 144, 14); 
they were to rest on the Sabbath (Ex. 23, 12; Deut. 
5, 14); not to be yoked with the ass (Deut. 22, 10; 2 
Cor. 6, 14); not to be stolen (Ex. 22, 4); not to be 
coveted (Ex. 20, 17); double damages were assessed 
for injury to an ox (Ex. 22, 9-13); the law in regard 
to injury by an ox is found in Ex. 21, 28-36; in regard 
to straying in Ex. 23, 4; the fat was not to be eaten 
(Lev. 7, 23); tithes of oxen are mentioned in 2 Chron, 



THE ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. 



397 



31,6; the sea of brass rested on their figures (1 Kings 
7, 25); pieces of an ox were sent to collect the people 
in war (1 Sam. 1 1, 7); they appear in Pharoah's 
dream (Gen. 41); were often found wild (Deut. 14, 5). 
(57) (Heb. kore). As when one doth hunt a part- 
ridge in the mountains (1 Sam. 26, 

PARTRIDGE. N , t • 1 r 

20). 1 here are two kinds 01 part- 
ridges in Palestine, both of which are distinct from our 
partridge. 

(67) (Heb. tukkiyyim). The peacock is twice 
mentioned in the Bible — in 1 Kings 10, 22, as a prod- 
uct of commerce in the time of Solo- 

PEACOCK. 1 • T 1 , 

mon, and in Job 39, 13, where the 
ostrich is probably a better translation. It is most 
likely that Solomon was the first to introduce peacocks 
to the shores of the Mediterranean. 

(60) (Heb. kaath). I am like a pelican of the 
wilderness (Ps. 102, 6). It is an emblem of deso- 
lation (Is. 34, 11; Zeph. 2, 14); see 
margin. The Hebrew word signifies 
to vomit, and refers to the pelican's habit of storing 
quantities of food in the large pouch attached to its 
lower mandible, for the purpose of feeding its young. 

(55) (Heb. yonah). The Lord commanded Abra- 
ham to take as a sacrifice a young pigeon (Gen. 15, 9). 

The Virgin Mary, being poor, offered 
(Lk. 2, 24) a pair of turtle doves or 
two young pigeons according to the law recorded in 
Lev. 12. The dove was held as a symbol of pure- 
ness and innocence, as in Matt. 3, i6 ? 



398 



THE HOLY LAND. 



(56) (Heb. selao). The quail is mentioned in the 
Bible only in connection with the 
miraculous supply of food (Ex. 16, 
13). The quail is the smallest of the partridge family. 

(32) (Heb. arnebeth). An unclean animal (Lev. 

11, 6). The rabbit, which is a 

species of the hare tribe, is not 
found in Palestine. 

(53) (Heb. oreb). And he sent forth a raven, 
which w T ent forth to and fro, until the waters were dried 

up from off the earth (Gen. 8, 7). 

This is the first bird mentioned in 
the Bible. The raven first attacks the eyes of young 
or sickly animals (Prov. 30, 17). 

(33) (Heb. tinshemeth; also chephor-peroth). The 

rat lives chiefly on bulbs and roots, 
and burrows close to the surface 

wherever it can find them. There are about ten 

species known. 

(22) (Heb. reem). The Hebrew word occurs seven 

times and is translated unicorn. In Deut. 33, 17, the 
" horns of a unicorn" should read, 

RHINOCEROS. t - £ . „ ^ , ., 

' * horns 01 unicorns. 1 wo tribes 
sprang from One, Joseph, as two horns from one head. 
Probably the unicorn is not the rhinoceros, but some 
species of wild ox. This opinion is confirmed by sev- 
eral passages (Num. 23, 22; Job 39, 10); notice his 
fierceness (Ps. 22, 21); intractability (Job 39, 9); 
activity (Ps. 29, 6; Is. 34, 6). 



\ 



THE ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. 



399 



(26) (Heb. tsebi). There is no doubt that the roe 
of Scripture is the gazelle. They were permitted for 
food (Deut. 12, 15); were provided 
R<m " for Solomon's table); (1 Kings 4, 23); 

their characteristic of grace and gentleness are referred 
to (2 Sam. 2, 18 ; I Chron. 12, 9).) Their timidity 
is referred to (Is. 13, 14 ; Prov. 6, 5 ; Song 2, 8). 

(72) (Heb. akrabbim). My father hath chastised 
you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions 
(1 Kings 12, 11). They are very 
abundant about the Dead Sea (Deut. 
8, 15). Ruins afforded them cool hiding-places 
(Ez. 2, 6). 

(14) (Heb. ayil). This is the first animal specified 
in the Bible (Gen. 4, 4). It is perhaps the most im- 
portant of all the animals in the 
scriptures. It formed the chief por- 
tion of the wealth of the patriarchs. Clothing of those 
days was made almost entirely of wool. Its character 
is alluded to in scripture as active (Ps. 114, 4); bleat- 
ing (Judges 5, 16); as innocent (2 Sam. 24, 17); saga- 
cious (John 10, 4); used for food (1 Sam. 25, 18; 1 
Kings 1, 19; Neh. 5, 18; Is. 22, 13); for milk (Deut. 
32, 14; Is. 7, 21; 1 Cor. 9, 7); for clothing (Heb. 11, 
37); covering of the tabernacle (Ex. 25, 5; Job 31, 
20; Ez. 34, 3); for presents (2 Sam. 17, 29); tribute 
(2 Kings 3, 4); as sacrifice (Ex. 20, 24); tithes to the 
Levites (2 Chron. 31, 6); sheep follow the shepherd 
and not a stranger (John 10, 4). 

(52) (Heb, tsippor). The sparrow hath found an 



400 



THE HOLY LAND. 



house, and the swallow a nest for herself (Ps. 84, 3). 

On the contrary, in Ps. 102, 7, the 

SPARROW. / . . 

sparrow is spoken of m connection 
with sadness. Sparrows are very abundant in Pales- 
tine; somewhat smaller and of a brighter hue. 

(65) (Heb. chasidah). As for the stork the fir- 
trees are her house (Ps. 104, 17). The stork is pure 

white in color, except the quill 

STORK. " 1 

feathers of the wing, which are 

black. The wings are large and powerful, with an 

expansion of seven feet (Zech. 5, 9). 

(49) (Heb. deror). As the swallow by flying, so 

the curse causeless shall not come home. Deror sig- 
nifies freedom, and the swallow is 
perhaps as free a bird as any other. 

There are about half a dozen species of swallows 

and closely allied martins in Palestine. 

(66) (Heb. tinshemeth). The swans were always 

very rare in Palestine, and perhaps 

SWAN. / f _• r r 

unknown to the Israelites. 
(17) (Heb. chazir). Neither cast ye your pearls 

before swine (Matt. 7, 6). There is 

no animal spoken of with such ab- 
horrence in the Bible (Is. 65, 4; 2 Pet. 2, 22). 

(69) (Heb. tsab). This word occurs only among 

the unclean animals (Lev. il, 29). 

TORTOISE. _ £ 1 , , T , 

It feeds upon beetles, and can 
inflict a severe bite. 

(54) (Heb. tor). The turtle and the crane and 
the swallow observe the time of their coming. (Jer. 



THE ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE. 



40I 



TURTLE DOVE. 



VUI/fURE. 



8, 7.) Its regular migration is here spoken of, and 
also in Song 2, 11-12. Like the 
pigeon, the turtle dove was a symbol 
of purity, from its habit of pairing for life, and it was 
ordained as an appropriate sacrifice. 

(43) (Heb. dayah.) There shall 
the vultures be gathered, everyone 
with her mate (Is. 34, 15). The vulture is very use- 
ful as a scavenger. 

(36) (Heb. choled). Unclean. The best sugges- 
tion for the weasel seems to be that it is the common 
ichneumon, an animal which is 

WEASEL. 

abundant, and found among scrub 
and rocky places along all the cultivated plains. 

(27) (Heb. tan). As Jonah was three days and 
three nights in the whale's belly. (Matt. 12, 40). In 
the book of Jonah it is called simply 
a great fish. The word means any 
sea-monster. As the whale episode is to be regarded 
as supernatural, and the creature may have been due 
to divine intervention, it is unnecessary to speculate 
upon its nature. 

(5) (Heb. zeeb). A wolf of the evening shall spoil 
them (Jer. 5, 6). This is doubtless the common wolf, 
anciently abundant in Palestine, and 
now seen occasionally. With refer- 
ence to its foraging we read: Her judges are evening 
wolves (Zeph. 3, 3 ) as to its fierceness (Gen. 49, 
27; Ez. 22, 27). 



WHAI/B. 



WOI,F. 



26 



LARGE STONES IN WALL AT BAALBEC. 




INDEX OF TOPICS AND PLACES. 



A capital letter followed b 
Rassweiler's Palestine Portfolio, 

ABANA(F 2 )57. 

Abel-Meholah (D4). 
Abila (B3). 
Accho (D3). 
Achzib (D2) 235. 
Adadah (D6). 
Adam (E4). 
Adoraim (D5). 
Adullam (D5) 102. 
Adummim (D5). 
Ai (D5) 214. 
Ajalon (D5) 88, ji6. 
Aines Sultan (D5). 
Anab (C6). 
Anathoth (D5). 
Aner (D4). 
Animals 373. 
Antipatris (C4). 
Apostles, character of 190. 
Ar (E6) 
Arad (D6). 
Ark, return of 98. 
Anion river (E6) 201. 
Ashdod (C5) 77. 
Asher (D2, 3) 235. 
Ashkelon (C5) 41, 76. 
Ashtaroth (F3). 
Ataroth (D5). 

4°3 



a figure refers to a section of 



BAAX,BEC 55 

Bashan (EF2) 199. 
Battlefields of:— Ajalon (D5) 88; 
Alteku 109; in Benjamin 133; 
Bethshan (D4) 161; Bethsur 
(D5) 132; Ebenezer 198; Elah 
(C5) 100; Geser (C5) 92; Gil- 
boa (D4) 208; Well of Harod 
(D3) 208; Hattin 184. 
Beer-lahai-roi (B7). 
Beeroth (D5). 
Beersheba (C6) 130, 224. 
Beit Jibrin 103. 
Benjamin 224. 
Bered (C6). 
Beten (D3). 
Bethabarah (E3) 286. 
Bethany (D5) 313, 315. 
Beth Dagon (C5). 
Bethel (D5) 225, 214, 225. 
Beth Hogla (D5). 
Bethhoron (D5) 216. 
Beth Jesimoth (E5). 
Bethlehem (D5) 143, 274, 276, 
279. 

Bethlehem in Zebulon (D3). 
Beth Nimrah (E5). 
Bethphage (D5). 



404 



INDEX OF TOPICS AND PLACES. 



Bethsaida (E3) 188, 301. 
Bethshan (D4) 159. 
Bethshemesh (C5). 
Bethzur (D5). 
Bezor (E6). 
Beyrout (Di) 54. 
Bosora (F3). 
Bozrah (E7). 
Buttauf (D3). 

CABTJX (D 3 ). 
Caesarea (C4) 44. 
Csesarea Philippi (E2) 308. 
Caua (D 3 ) 285. 

Capernaum (D3) 287, 288, 291, 

292, 295, 298. 
Carmel (D6) 31. 
Carmel, Mount (D3). 
Cedron (C5). 
Chariot driving 151. 
Cherith (D5). 
Chorazin (E3). 

DABBASHETH (D2). 

Dalmanutha (E3). 

Damascus (Fi) the approach 

59; antiquity of 57; bazaar 58; 

due to Abana 57; religions of 

61; roads from 60; situation 

5S; suburbs 59. 
Dan (E2) 95, 226, 236. 
Dan Jaan (D2). 
Debir 218. 

Dependence upon God 206. 
Dibon (E6). 
Dor (C 3 ) 231. 
Dothan (D4). 
Pumah (C6). 



EARI,Y INHABITANTS 

17. 

Eastern valleys 114. 
Ebal (D4) 27. 
Edrei (F3). 
Edrei Asher (D2). 
Eglon (C5) 218. 

Egypt, relations with 20, 208, 
280. 

Ekron (C5) 78, 223, 227. 
Elah, valley of (C5) 100. 
Elijah 196. 
Elon (D 5 ) 
Eudor (D 3 ) 231 
Engannim (D4). 
Engedi (D6) 124. 
Ephraim, mount of 148. 
Ephraim, tribe of 228, 316. 
Esdraelon (D3) in, 207. 
Eshcol (D5). 
Etam (C6). 

FAM, OF CHRISTIAN- 
ITY 25. 

GADARA (E3) 298. 

Galilee, ancient prosperity 185; 
boundaries 164; cities of the 
lake, 187; divisions 165; en- 
vironment 175; fertility 167; 
former magnificence 1S9 ; 
name 163; people 164, 168; 
roads 172; sea of 183; water 
supply 166; way of the sea 
173, 297. 

Gath (C 5 ) 79- 

Gaza (D5) 74. 

Geba (C 3 ). 

Gerar (B6). 



Index of topics and places. 



405 



Gerizim (D4) 287. 
Gezer (C5) 92, 217, 225. 
Gibeah (D5). 
Gibeon (D5) 215, 226. 
Gilboa(D4). 

Gilgal (D5) 211, 215, 230. 
Golan (E3). 
Goliath 101. 

HADASHAH (C5). 

Hadid (C5). 

Hamath (D3), 235. 

Hamon (D2). 

Hattin, horns of 184, 293. 

Harod, well of (D3). 

Harosheth (D3). 

Hazor (D5) 218, 235. 

Hebron (D5). 

Hebron Asher (D2) 235. 

Hermon Mount (D2) 166, 197, 

3Q9> 3i°- 
Heshbon Wady (K5) 
Hezron (C7). 
Hill country 203, 205. 
Hiram's tomb 52. 
Hittites 20. 
Horem (D2). 
Hosah (D2). 
Hot springs 183. 
Hukkok (D3). 

IJON (K2). 
Issachar (D3). 

JABBOK, Brook (Wady Zer- 

ka) (E4). 
Jabesh Gilead (E4). 
Jabneel (D3). 
Janoali (D2). 
Janum (D5). 



Jarmuth (D4). 

Jericho (D5) 212, 222, 318, 319. 
320. 

Jerusalem (D5) aqueducts 258; 
bed-rock 259; dome of the 
rock 252; gates 248; geologic 
formations 261; hills 247; his- 
tory 248; Jews' wailing place 
254; large buildings 265; rena- 
issance 244; reservoirs 254; 
Robinson's arch 260; sacred 
sites 268; sieges 240; Solo- 
mon's stables 254; streets 250; 
Temple stone 262; tomb of 
David 266; valleys 245; walls 
248; water supply 255; world- 
wide interest in 237; Zion 266. 

Jeshua (C6). 

JESUS CHRIST, anointed 
by Mary 320; anointed by 
a penitent woman 296; ap- 
pearance to disciples 332; to 
the disciples and Thomas 332; 
to seven disciples 333; ascen- 
sion, 334; baptism 283; bap- 
tising in Judaea 286 ; bar- 
gain of Judas 325 ; betrayal 
and arrest 327 ; birth of 
274; and blind Bartimaeus 318; 
and the blind man 307; and 
blind man and demoniac 299; 
burial of 329; call of Matthew 
291; centurion's servant 295; 
childhood at Nazareth 281; 
cleansing of the temple at 
first 285; cleansing of the tem- 
ple second time 322; crucifix- 
ion 329; a day of miracles 



406 



INDEX OF TOPICS AND t>LACE$. 



288; deaf and dumb man 305; 
demoniac boy 310; departure 
from Judaea 286; eigbteen 
years at Nazaretb 283; feeding 
tbe five tbousand 301; feeding 
tbe four tbousand 306; first 
miracle 285; fligbt into Bgypt 
280; four disciples called 289; 
Gadarene demoniac 298; in 
Getbsemane 326; Greek seek- 
ing 324; Jairus' daughter 298; 
Jobn's testimony to 286; last 
supper 325; man born blind 
314; man borne by four 289; 
man witb witbered band 292; 
Mary and Martba 313; noble- 
man's son 2S7 ; Peter's confes- 
sion 308; plucking corn 291; 
presentation in tbe temple 
277; raising of Lazarus 315; 
rejection at Nazaretb, first 
time 288; rejection at Naza- 
retb, second time 300; resur- 
rection 331; ricb young ruler 
317; sermon on tbe mount 
293 ; seventy selected 312; 
shepherds' visit 276; Syro- 
pbcenician's daughter 304; 
tempest stilled 297; tempta- 
tion 284; ten.lepers 317; tbree 
disciples called 284; transfig- 
uration 309; trial before Jews 
327; trial before Pilate 328; 
triumphal entry 321; twelve 
apostles chosen 292; two dis- 
ciples of Emniaus 331; visit 
of mother and brethren 297; 
visit of Nichodemus 286 ; 
visit of wise men 279; visit to 



Jerusalem 281; visit to the 
feast 311; walking on the sea 
303; watch at sepulchre 330; 
widow's son 295; widow's 
mites 323; withdrawal to 
Kphraim 316; woman healed 
on Sabbath 314; woman of 
Samaria 287; Zacchaeus 319. 
Jezreel (D3). 

John the Baptist 140, 196, 283. 

Joppa (C4) 42, 227. 

Jordan, a barrier 195; geolog- 
ical formation 192; name 171; 
sources 189; south of Sea of 
Galilee 193; unique 191; why 
desert 194; width of valley 
192; 283. 

Judah, pre-exilic 118; northern 
boundary 222. 

Judaism ethical 23; triumphant 
22. 

Judaea, boundaries 115; eastern 
frontier 122; east gate 126; ex- 
tent 122; few fertile tracts 137; 
gateways on tbe east 124; in- 
accessible 128; influence of 
the desert 139; invasions from 
the east 132; isolated position 
121; Jehovah her strength 
136; a land of shepherds 137; 
no large city 141; northern 
fortresses 124; northern front- 
ier 133; northeast gate 126; 
northern invasion 135; and 
Samaria 145; southern front- 
ier 127; southern passes 124; 
western frontier 134, 131. 

Jutta (D6). 



INDEX OF TOPICS AND PLACES. 4O7 



KADESH BARNEA (C7). 
Kanah (D2). 

Kedesh (D3) a city of refuge. 
Kedesh Naphtali (B3) 235. 
Kerioth (D6). 
Kir haresh (E6). 
Kirjathaim (E5). 
Kirjath Jearim (D5) 99. 
Kishon (D3) 233. 

I^ACHISH (C5) 104, 216. 
Ladder of Tyre(D2) 47. 
Lebonah (D4). 
Lebanon (Di) 54, Hi. 
Lydda(C 5 )6 5 . 

MACCABEES, in Benjamin 
134; in conflict with Greek in- 
fluence 73; in Esdraelon 209; 
in Galilee 163, 170; in Judah 
on the western frontier 132; 
in the Shephelah 89. 

Magdala (D3). 

Manasseh (D4) 231. 

Maon (D6). 

Masada (D6). 

Maritime plain, Christianity in 
the 73; foreign invasions 72; 
Greek influence 73; natural 
beauties 64. 

Mearah (Di). 

Megiddo (D3). 

Mekonah (C5). 

Merom waters of (E2) 181. 

Michmash (D5). 

Midianites 208. 

Mizpeh (D5). 

Moab (E6) 200. 

Molada (D6). 



NAIN (D3) 233, 295. 
Naphtali 235. 
Nature worship 21. 
Nazareth (D3) 33, 176, 273. 281, 

288, 300. 
Nebo (E5) 37. 

ONO (C4) 

PALESTINE, central loca- 
tion 11; history 209; names 13. 

Parables, persons of the 175. 

Paul at Csesarea 46. 

Pella (K4). 

Peter's vision 45. 

Philistines' campaign against 
Saul 208; conflicts 69, 71; ori- 
gin 69; parallel with Israel 70; 
religion 69. 

Pisgah 37. 

Plants 335. 

RABBATH AMMON (E5). 
Rakkon (C4). 
Ramah (D5). 
Ramath Mizpeh (F3). 
Ramleh (C5) 68. 
Ramoth Gilead (E4). 
Raphon (F3). 
Rehoboth (C6) 
Rephaim (D5). 

Righteousness of the God of 

Israel 207. 
Rimmon (C6). 

SAFED (B3). 

Saint George 66. 

Samaria (D4) central position 
153; city of Ahab and Herod 
157; contrasted with Judaea 
145; fertility 149; fortresses 



408 



INDEX OF TOPICS AND PLACES. 



154; history 146, 153; open- 
ness of 150; roads 158; scenery 
fine 146; sieges 156, 232. 

Sarepta (D2) 235. 

Sarid (D3). 

Sennacherib 109. 

Seven nations 19. 

Shalen (D4) 

Sharon (C5) 63. 

Shechem (D4) 154, 229. 

Shephelah, in the crusades 90, 
100; description 86; David in 
101; extent 81; with the Mac- 
cabees 89; names 81; in the 
Old Testament 88; and Rich- 
ard first 90; separating val- 
leys 84. 

Shiloh (D4) 229. 

Shunem (D3). 

Sidon (Di) 53, 235. 

Sirah (D5). 

Sisera 208. 

Socoh (C5). 

South Coast 39. 

Sorek, Valley of (C5) 85, 89, 94, 

102, 216. 
Succoth (E4). 
Sychar (D4). 

TABOR, Mount (D3). 
Tekoah (D5). 
Tiberias (D3). 
Timnah (C5). 
Tiphsah (D4). 
Tirzah (D4) 232. 
Tophel (E7). 
Tyre(D2) 48. 50, 304. 



UMMAH (D2). 

WADY AI<I (C5) 84. 
Wady el Abyad (B7). 
Wady el Afranj 103. 
Wady el Arish (A7) 130. 
Wady el Ghurab (C5) 85. 
Wady Ghuzzeh (B6). 
Wady el Haman 173. 
Wady el Heshbon (E5). 
Wady el Hesy (B5) 103. 
Wady el Ifjim 144. 
Wady Kelt (K5) 211, 222. 
Wady el Kurn 234. 
Wady en Najil (D5) 85. 
Wady es Seba (C6) 127. 
Wady es Sunt 85, 100, 132. 
Wady es Surar (C5) 85, 89, 94 

102, 216. 
Wady es Suweinit (D5) 214, 225. 
Wady esh Shair (D4) 155. 
Wady esh Sheria (C6) 85. 
Wady Farah (E4). 
Wady Fejas 173. 
Wady Jalud (D3). 
Wady Khulil 127. 
Wady Rubadiyeh. 
Wady Waziyeh 173. 

2AN0AH (D6). 
Zaphon (E3). 
Zebulon (D2) 234. 
Zephath (D7). 
Ziklag (C6). 
Ziph (D6). 
Zoar (E5). 
Zorah (D5) 94, 227. 



TEXTS ILLUSTRATED. 



GENESIS. 



I, 21 


385 


12, 


IO 


371 26, 1 


69 


40 




370 


3, 7 


350 


12, 


16 


376 26, 12 


37i 


4i 




397 


3, I? 


369 


13, 


I 


129 26, 14 


396 


4i, 


57 


348 


4, 4 


399 


13, 


3 


114 27, 28 


37i 


43, 


14 


343 


6,7 


379 


13, 


7 


396 30, 14 


37i 


46, 


i-5 


129 


6, 14 


349 


14 




19, 128 30, 15 


357 


47, 


17 


389 


8, 8 


398 


15, 


9 


396, 397 30, 37 


347 


49, 


9 


392 


8, ii 


362 


16 




129 30, 43 


376 


49, 


14- 


15 232 


9, 2 


383 


20 




69 32, 22 


199 


49, 


17 


373, 389 


9, 20 


37o 


22, 


3 


376 35, 8 


361 


49, 


21 


168 


io, 15- 


18 19, 53 


21 




20 36, 2 




Qy> 


27 


401 


10, 19 


69 




25 


376 37, 25 


343 


^O 




396 


12, 6 


153 




29 


356 


















EXODUS. 










8, 21-22 384 


14, 


9 


389 22, 9-I3 


396 


26, 


14 


377 


9, 3 


389 


T C 

X J) 


21 


388 23, 4, 12 


oy u 


11 


20 


364 


9, 9 


396 


l6 


13 


398 23, 28 


188 


28 




352 


9, 25 


379 


l6 


3i 


348 25, 5 377, 


^QQ 

oyy 


28, 


33 


365 


10, 6 


393 


on 


17 


396 25, IO 




"20 


23 


344, 368 


10, 15 


393 


20, 


24 


399 25, 31 


357 


^O, 


25-35 339 


10, 19 


397 


21, 


28-36 396 25, 33 


34i 


30, 


34 


335, 368 


12, 22 


354 


22, 


4 


396 26, 1 


352 


36, 


14 


387 


12, 32 


396 
























lVEVITlCUS. 










2, 6 


365 


II, 


6 


387 II, 18 


382 


12 




397 


23, 


369 


II, 


10 


383 II, 19 377, 


388 
378 


14 




354 


11, 


379 


II, 


14 


390 11, 22 


19, 


19 


394 


11, 5 


380 


II, 


16 


3S1, 388 11, 29 


400 


23, 


40 


372 










NUMBERS. 










4 


377 


13, 


29 


19 21, 19 


201 


24, 


9 


392 


7, 3 


396 


17, 


8 


341 21, 26 


19 


32, 


4 


396 


11,4 


383 


19, 


6 


354 23, 14 


201 


32, 


9 


37o 


ii, 5 


349, 355 


20, 


5 


365 23, 22 


398 


32, 


34 


201 


13, 22 


38 


21, 


14 


202 24, 6 


347 


34, 


8 


in, 179 



13, 23 350 



4io 



TEXTS ILLUSTRATED. 



DEUTERONOMY. 



i, 44 


378 8, 8 


350, 365 14, 18 


379 


32, 14 


399 


2, 36 


200 8, 15 


399 22, 10 


^q6 


O » 00 


0/0 


3, 4 


198 11, 11-12 206 25, 4 


396 


33, 17 


398 


3,9 


197 14. 44 


396 28, 38 


393 


33, 20 


392 


3, 11 


200 4,5, 374, 379, 397 28, 40 


34o 


33, 22 


392 


3, 17 


20E 14, 7 


380 29, 18 


372 


33, 23-24 


368 


4, 48 


197 14, 15 


381 32, 13 


368 


34, 1 


119 


5,14 


396 14, 17 


380 












JOSHUA. 








1, 4 


20 11, 5-7 


181, 219 17, 14 


231 


19. 17 


232 


2, 6 


353 11, 16 


114 17, 15 


147 


19, 24 


235 


3 


211 12, 22 


232 18, 1 


229 


19, 25-31 


5° 


8, 33 


229 13, 3 


18 18, 11-28 


224 


19, 32-36 


235 


9,4 


387 15, 5-8 


222 18, 13 


225 


19, 35 


183 


9, 20 


11 16 


228 18, 15-19 


222 


19, 40 48 


226 


10, 4 


215 16, 2 


225 19, i-9 


223 


19, 23 


227 


10, 5 


19 17, 1 


231 19, 7 


365 


21, 11 142, 


147 


10, 11 


215 17, 2 


232 19, 10-22 


207 


21, 22 


118 


10, 41 


218 17, 7-8 


228 19, 10 


234 


24, 26 


361 


11 


218 17, 11 


217, 231 









JUDGES. 



I, 


8 


240 4, 17 


184 7, 13 


344 


14,8 


378, 392 


I, 


10 


218 4, 21 


2i 9, 8-13 


35o 


15, 4 




390 


I, 


22- 


-25 225 5, 10 


376 9. 8 


362 


15, 5 




385 


I, 


3i- 


-32 50 5, 16 


399 9, 9 


363 


16, 3 




142 


I, 


34 


70 6, 5 


393 10, 4 


376 


20 




229 


3, 


27 


345 6, 11 


151 12, 14 


376 


20, 14- 


■15 


226 


3, 


3i 


396 7, 1 


233, 112 14, 5 


37o 


20, 35 




133 


4, 


5 


151, 230 7, 12 


393' 14, 6 


392 


20, 45 




365 








RUTH. 










1, 


1 


13 2, 23 


344 3, 3 


34o 


3, 15 




344 


I, 


22 


345 













1 SAMUEL. 



2, 18 


352 13 


134 17, 35 


392 


25, 18 


35i, 399 


6,4 


394 13, 5 


389 17, 36 


377 


26, 6 


21 


6,5 


35i 13, 18 


389 17, 37 


393 


26, 20 


397 


7, 14 


79 13, 19 


13 19, 13 


387 


30, 1 


127 


10, 1 


365 13, 19- 


-23 21 23, 29 


124 


30, 23 


142 
208 


10, 2 


223 14, 2 


366 24, 2 


387 


3i 


11, 7 


397 17, 34 


377, 392 24, 14 


385 











TEXTS ILLUSTRATED. 


41 1 








2 SAMUEL. 






I, 20 


77 




T/L2 17. 2Q 


7C\A 11 of\ 
oyQ 1 1 » ^° 


344 


h 23 


392 


5^ 22 


358 i3» 37 


199 17, 29 


399 


2, 4-11 


142 


5, 24 


358 15, 7-io 


142 20, 3 


245 


2, 12-13 


134 


6, 14 


352 15. 30 


362 23, 20 




2, 13 


215 


7, 8 


138 17, 8 


378 24, 7 


50 


2, 18 


399 


12, 20 


340 17, 10 


392 24, 17 


Oyy 


1, 17-27 


142 


13/23 


115 












1 KINGS. 






II 19 


399 


7, IQ 
/ > y 


357 12, II 


^QQ l8, 40 
oyy ' 1 


209 


I, 32 


245 


7, l8-20 


^6^ it., 24 


392 18, 44 


I 5 I 


1, 33 


394 


7, 25 


397 14, 7 


154, 232 18, 45 


J 59 


4, 23 


375 


7, 46 


211 15, 17 


135 19 


129 


4, 24 


75 


8, 63 


396 15, 22 


118 19, 5 


355 


4, 33 354,379>383 


9, 16 


227 16, 15 


118 19, 16 


365 


5, 6 


50 


9, 26-28 


128 16, 31 


5i 19) 19 


39^ 


5, 8 


35i 


10, 11 


34i 16, 34 


212 20, 36 


392 


6, 7 


347 


10, 22 


397 J 7) 1 


195 20, 38-41 


157 


6, 15 


351 


10, 26 


388 18, 5 


379) 396 22, 29 


152 


6, 29 


350 


io, 27 


347, 363 18, 13 


157 22, 39 


382 


6, 34 


163 














2, KINGS. 






2 


196 


5, 17 


395 9< 28 


152 18, 14-17 


104 


2, 1 


230 


6, 25 


156 10, 15 


152 19, 28 


389 


2, 23 


377 


7. 1-2 
/ ) 


7.AA IO. 17 


157 20, 7 


35i 


3, 4 


399 


8, 13 


381 14) 25 


234 23, 8 130, 134 


4, 39 


353 


Q l6 
y > 1 w 


7 C2 17 2^ 


194 23, 11 


389 


5, 9 


152 


9, 20 


209 18, 8 


72, 75 24 


243 


5, 12 


195 
















I CHIcO-NICl^S. 






4, 32 


108 


12, 40 


351, 396 27, 28 


364 27, 29 


396 


4, 39-43 


21 


14, I 


347 












2, CHRONICI/ES. 






2, 8 


34i 


9, 25 


388 16, 14 


340 30, 25 


13 


3, 5 


35i 


9' 27 


347 17, I* 


128 31, 6 


39 7 


7, 13 


393 


II, 9 


104, 216 19, 4 


130 35, 24 152, 208 


9, 21 


375 


II, IO 


142 20 


125 
















2, 25 


223 


2, 66 


389, 394 







412 




TEXTS ILLUSTRATED. 












NBH^MIAH. 








T, 12 


379 


=; 18 


^QQ 8 1^ ^60 


o u * 


11, 33 


224 


3, 3 


383 


7, 68 


389 II, 27 


TIT 


11, 34 


225 








ESTHER. 








i, 6 


163 


2, 12 


359 5, 8-11 














JOB. 








if 3 


39 6 


15, 33 


363, 364 31, 20 


399 


39, 26 


388 


4, ii 


392 


20, 14-15 375 39, 1 


387 


39, 27 


381 


4, 19 


394 


28, 8 


1Q2 ^Q. IO 

J7 O7) AW 


39 s 


40, 15 


378 


io, 16 


392 


^O. A 


000 oy, A o 


397 


4i, 1 


391 


II, 12 


376 


^O, 7 


■*6i ^q, 18 


389 












PSALMS. 








7 2 


^Q2 


52,8 


362, 364 84, 3 


400 


10^ 11 




IO. Q 


^Q2 


58, 4 


375 84, 6 


358 


10^ id. 


■jyo 


22, 21 


398 


63, 10 


390 92, 12-14 


35o 


IIA A 


^QQ 

oyy 


23, 5 


340 


74, 14 


391 102, 6 


397 


Il8, 12 


^78 


29, 6 


398 


78, 45 


384 102, 7 


400 


119,' 83 


387 


32, 9 


389 


78, 46 


393 104, 16 


346 


I20, 4 


355 


37, 35 


344 


78, 47 


370 104, 17 


400 


128, 3, 


362, 364 


42,6 


195 


80, 8 


370 104, 18 


387 


133, 2 


34o 


45,8342,369,382 


80, 13 


379 104, 21-22 


392 


137, 2 


372 


46 


195 


8r, 12 


166 104, 26 


39i 


140, 3 


374 


5i, 7 


354 


81, 16 


37i 105, 30 


386 


144, 14 


396 








PROVERBS. 








6,5 


399 


21, 31 


3S9 26, 13 


392 


30, 25 


374 


6, 6 


374 


22, 13 


392 27, 9 


340 


30, 26 


380 


7, 17 


342 


23, 32 


374 27, 23 


396 


30, 27 


393 


17, 12 


378 


24, 3i 


361 28, 1 


392 






19, 12 


392 


25, 11 


342 30, 17 


398 


31, 22 


353 


20, 2 


392 


26, 3 


389 














BCCLESIASTES. 








7, 1 


34o 


9, 4 


381 10, 1 


384 


12, 5 


34o 






SONG OF SOLOMON. 








1, 3 


34o 


2, 11-12 


401 4, 14 342, 366 


7, 5 


32 


i, 12 


367 


2, 14 


368 5, 5-13 


359 


7, 7 


349 


1, 14 


345 


3, 6 


34o 5, 3 5 


347 


7,8 


342 


1, 17 


347, 35i 


4,8 


39i, 392 6, 4 


232 


7, 13 


357 


2, 1 


35i, 366 


4, 10 


340 6, 11 


371 


8,5 


342 


2, 3-4 


342 


4, 13 


367 













TEXTS ILLUSTRATED. 


413 








ISAIAH. 






I, 29 


361 


TO 1 1 


"2/1*7 70 OR 

34/ o u > ^° 


5°y U > 9 


394 


2, 13 347, 


361 


T T 1 


393 3 1 , 4 


39^ 5 1 * ^° 


379 


2, 20 


377 


11 8 


0/0 00, 4 


393 00, 1 3 


360 


3, 23 


353 






0/, ^ 


34o 


5, 29 


392 


14, 23 


379 34, 6 


398 58, 5 


345 


6, 13 361, 


37o 


15, 6 


391 34, 11 


395, 397 60, 13 


345 


7, 9 


154 


16, 8 


352 34, 15 


401 61, 1 


300 


7, 21 


399 


20 


78 38, 13 


392 63, 1 


199 


7, 25 


396 


22, 13 


1QQ iS IA 


^80 6^ A 


400 


9 ' * 


163 


27 I 


;qt AT IQ 


^67 6^ 10 
O'+O, j u / w o, a w 


39 6 


IO, o-II 


22 


28, I 


T^7 lf)A Al 1A 
1 > O u 4 40» ^4 


■268 6^ 2^ 
o uo u o, z o 


393 


IO, 28 


215 


28, 25 


^zl.8 ^66 I J. 


■^zlQ. ^61 66 17 


394 


IO, 28-31 


135 


"2D 6 














J^R^MIAH. 






I, II 


34i 


8, 22 


343 22, 14 


347 46, 23 


393 


2, 31 


140 


9, 15 


372 23, 15 


372 47, 7 


77 


5, 6 391,^92 


401 


10, 5 


350 24, 1-7 


35i 49, 16 


381 


5, 7 


1Q2 


11, 16 


[362, 363 26, 6-9 


230 49, 19 


1Q2 

07 


5, 57 


350 


12, 5 


195 46, 4 


384 5i, 8 


343 


6, 20 


368 


12, 9 


389 46, 11 


345 5i, 21 


389 


7, 12-14 


230 


T 3, 23 


39i 46, 18 


31 5i, 38 


392 


8, 7 


401 


17, 6 


354 


• 










LAMENTATIONS. 




3> 10 


392 


3, 15-19 372 4, 3 


395 4, 19 


3»2 








E3EKIEI,. 






2, 6 


399 


16, 10 


377 23, 23 


389 3i, 3 


347 


4, 9 344, 357, 


358 


16, 46 


145 27, 6 


361, 382 31, 8 


347 


6, 13 


36I 


17 


382 27, 17 


343 34, 3 


399 


9, 2 


352 


17, 22 


377 27, 19 


346 34, 29 


347 


13, 4 


385 


22, 27 


401 












DANIEL. 






5, 21 


76 


6, 16 


392 7, 6 


39i 11, 4i 


13 


0, 7 


392 


6, 24 


392 10, 5 


352 










HOSEA. 






4, 13 


36l 


9, 3 


13 10, 8 


369 13, 7 


39i 


5, 14 


392 


9, 13 


364 IO, II 


39 6 13, 8 


378, 392 


8, 1 


382 











4H 



TEXTS ILLUSTRATED. 



i, 4 


35o 


1, 12 


342 2, 20 


393 2, 25 


350 


I. 7-II 




2, 2-7 


^Q'Z 2. 22 


^so 










AMOS. 






2, 9 


347 


4, 9 


35o 6, 6 


34o 7, 15 


138 


3> 12 


392 


0, 4 


3^2 












MICAH. 






r > J 3 




1 16 




39 2 6, 15 


o°3 


i, 13 


389 
















NAHUM. 






2, II 


392 


3) 12 


35i 3, 15 


393 










HABUKKUK. 






i, 8 


39i 


3> 17 


35i. 396 3, 17 


363, 










^EPHANIAH. 






I, IO 


o°o 




360 2, 14 347, 397 3, 3 


40 r 








^^CHARIAH. 






i, 8 


360 


4, II-14 


360 9, 5-7 


79 12, 4 


^Sq 

o^y 


2, 12 


12 


S, Q 

» ^7 


400 9, 10 


152 14, 20 


i8q 


3j i° 




6, 2 


3§9 3 


361 14, 15 


^8q 




162 
















MATTHEW. 






2, I-II 


279 


6, 28 


357 13, 54-58 


300 23, 24 


386 


2, II 


359 


7, 6 


400 15, 21-28 


304 24, 28 


381 


2. IV2^ 


280 


7, 16 


369 15, 29-30 


305 24, 32 


^O 


^. A ^So. 


070 


Q. 27-^4 


399 T 5, 32-39 


306 25, 3 


16s 


3, io-ii 


I96 


12, 40 


383, 401 17, 20 


359 26, 7 


340 


3, 14 




13, 3 


358 17, 27 


382 26, 36 


362 


3> 16 


397 


13, 25 


369 21, I 


363 27, 48 


354 


4, 3 


24 


13, 3i 


358 23, 23 


342 27, 62-66 


33^ 


4, 14-^5 


12 
















MARK. 






i,6 


393 


6, 13 


365 7, 24-30 


48 11, 13 


351 


4, 3i 


359 


6, 32 


185 8, 22-25 


307 15, 3 


359 


5, 24 


190 


6, 39 


188 10, 1 


154 15, 46 


353 



TEXTS ILLUSTRATED. 



415 









LUKE. ' 






I, 26-56 




292 9> 54 


168 19, 45-46 


'29'? 


2, 


1-6 


11 A f\ 90-/ln 


293 10, 30 


126 21, I-4 


111 


2 , 


8-20 


276 7 I-I7 


295 10, 38-42 


313 22, 1-6 




2, 


21 


277 7 2A-10 


48 11, 42 


366 22, I4-20 




2, 


24 


397 7, 36-50 


296 13, 32 


385 22, 39-46 


326 


2, 


39 5o 


281 7, 37 


34o 13, 34 


362 22 47-71 


327 


2, 


51-52 


283 8, 19-21 


297 15, 16 


354 23, 1-25 


328 


3> 


21-23 




297 15, 19 268, 353 23, 26-49 


1 1C\ 


4. 


1-13 


284 8, 26-56 


296 17, 6 


359 23, 28 


268 


4. 


16-30 


288 Q 7-T7 


301 17, 11-19 


^17 2X, ^0-^6 


1 ic\ 


4. 


25 


13 9, l8-2I 


308 18, 35-43 


3l8 24, I-35 


11 T 


5, 


17-26 


289 9, 28-36 


309 19, 1-9 


319 24, 36-43 


112 
00 ^ 


5, 


27-32 


29 1 9, 37-42 


310 19, 29 


321 24, 49-5O 


334 


6, 


i-5 


291 9, 25 


190 19, 29-44 


351 24, 50 


362 








JOHN. 






1,28 


199 4, 1-26 


287 IO, 4 


399 12, 13 


35° 


1 , 


35-42 


284 4, 46-54 


287 I [ 


315 12, 20-36 


324 


2, 


1-22 


285 6, 10 


188 ir, 39-54 


316 19, 29 


354 


2, 


23. to 3,36 286 6, 16-21 


303 Hi 55-56 


320 20, 26-29 


332 


4, 


5 


228 7 


3 Ir 12, 3 


367 21, I-24 


333 


4, 


21 


30 9 


3M 












ACTS. 






1, 


9-10 


334 9, 36-43 


21, 26 


263 27, 3 


00 


3, 


26 


76 














ROMANS. 






11 


, 16-25 


362 11, 17 303, 364 










2, CORINTHIANS. 






6, 


14 


39 6 














TIMOTHY. 






4, 


17 


392 














HEBREWS. 






5, 


7 


327 6, 8 


369 ii, 9, 


13 11, 37 


399 








JAMES. 






3, 


3 


389 5, 2 


394 












1 PETER 






5, 


8 


393 














3 PETER. 






2, 


22 


400 












REVELATIONS. 






5, 


5 


39i ii, 3 


362 16, 13 


386 18, 13 340, 348, 389 


6, 


13 


35i 13, 2 


39T 16, 16 


233 19, 8 


352 


9, 


7 


393 15, 6 


352 18, 12 


382 





